I think that, at some point in the past, I may have mentioned that this blog may be more along the lines of self-directed therapy than anything else. Today was certainly a good example of that. Imagine tripping your kid while she is running to get a good look at the polar bears, hearing her face smack hard against the ground, having the instantaneous fear that she is going to need 25 stitches and have a permanent scar across her forehead, picking her up to find a scrape and a goose egg that has instantly raised 2cm off her skull, and then spending 5 hours in the hospital to find out that she is fine. Being able to post images of the experience through the day was like having a nice little pressure valve I could open up from time to time. And Ruby, imp that she is, has no shortage of photo-worthy moments, regardless of her location or state of mind. Posting through the day made it a whole lot less stressful experience.
I want to say publicly that I am deeply grateful to my country for our health care system. I have enough breadth of experience with the system now to know that when you need it, it is there.. I walked into the hospital today with a kid who potentially had a serious injury. Ruby and I were greeted and assessed by friendly nurses, all of whom got Ruby chatting comfortably after sharing a common love for the zoo with her, provided with a clean and relatively comfortable place to wait, and seen by a doctor who was just the right balance of reassuring, concerned, and informative – a calm and balanced state that she pulled off while being, as far as I could tell, the only person working the urgent care section of the emerge this afternoon. It isn’t a perfect system – but its a good one staffed by good people and I’m thankful.
Today was a very interesting example of a parenting lesson that I have heard friends reiterate time and again though. And here it is. When you have nothing else to do but focus on just the one thing – the kid, or kids, as the case may be, then things go a lot better. When there is no other agenda, when you don’t have a bunch of to dos, when you aren’t trying to squeeze in an errand or a phone call or a shower, taking care of them can be a pretty smooth ride – you just have to go with the flow of things. And that was today. Sure it was hectic and there was a lingering sense of fear that something could go wrong. But, truth be told, once we got into that hospital waiting room, with our snacks and a few other families to chat to, and an interesting place to walk around and look at the strange equipment and ask “why?” and “where’s that guy going?” and “what’s that guy doing?” and “what’s that?”, we were fine. We had a perfectly nice afternoon. Not one I’d soon repeat. But with nothing else to focus on – with the agenda cleared – it wasn’t so bad.
Anyway – Ruby is well and good. She was her usual self tonight. Getting up to go pee 37 times after lights out. Refusing to eat her dinner but happily eating sliced fruit afterwards. Asking for story after story and song after song at bed time. And I’m grateful for that too.
3 Ginger Snaps 