What a difference another day makes. (To see how far I've fallen in 24 hours, read yesterday's post filled with foolish optimism and an unhealthy dose of naivete.)
Yesterday I was on top of the world. Yep, I was looking down on my kingdom, and life was good. I knew it wouldn't last. Couldn't last. After all, I'm raising three kids (two granddaughters and my husband).
Kids are stupid. Well, they act stupid. All three of mine do, anyway. The oldest grandchild crammed a ring on her finger and couldn't get it off. The story I heard was that she actually had to use lotion to get it on her finger (stupid act #1). At some point in the middle of the night she realized her finger was swelling so she tried to remove the ring. Gotta give her some credit, though--she got up and searched the internet for advice. How did we survive before the internet? Forget that we didn't use child safety seats, seatbelts or bike helmets. We didn't have the world wide web.
When morning came and the ring was starting to become one with her finger, she showed it to her grandfather. He gave her two choices: let him cut it off (the ring, not her finger) or go to school, ring intact. Now, understand this is the same man who's gullible enough to let her stay home because she "has a stomachache". But a ring buried in the flesh of her finger??? That's no reason to miss school! (Stupid act #2, and it's only 7 a.m. But in his defense, she has missed too much school. And men just don't have the genetic predisposition we mothers have that forces us to worry "what if?" when it comes to children and matters of health.)
Now I must confess that I slept through the morning drama. I can't sleep at night (any wonder why?), so I sleep when I can. Usually I fall asleep when the sun is rising and I no longer fear that someone will sneak out of or into my house. So I guess I'll admit to stupid act #3--being oblivious.
Fast forward to 11 a.m. Yes, I was up finally. The phone rang; it was my granddaughter's school calling to inform me that she had a ring embedded in her finger. They had tried to remove it, but it wasn't budging. Since the school couldn't risk causing her further injury, they wanted us to pick her up and do the damage ourselves.
Long story short (okay, still too long), we eventually had to cut the ring off and her finger will be just fine. But my feelings of invincibility from yesterday had been shattered. That's what family will do--when you fly too close to the sun, they'll sneak up behind you and knock you safely to the ground where you belong.
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