The Fall

Yesterday I took quite a fall. My friend's hose was leaking a fine mist on her slate steps, and when I came into her house I let her know and she turned off the water. I completely forgot that it would be frozen into a sheet of ice when I left an hour later. Down I went, Clara on my hip. My back hit one stair on the way down, and my right elbow on another. Clara was hysterical but we finally determined that she must not have hit her head - she just landed on her back on the slate at the bottom. I was so shocked I couldn't get up for several minutes, and when I did I was convinced I'd broken my elbow. The girls were of course extremely upset.

But we got home to Bridges and he took care of things. He calmed down the girls and bandaged and iced me. My elbow was immediately black and blue, and I'd torn off the skin even through a heavy coat and two layers of clothes. But the shooting pains up and down my arm finally subsided, and I can move it. The scrape on my back is about six inches long, and I'm really sore on that side, even to move my left arm around much.

But the sweetest thing was how the girls cuddled with me afterward. One on each side, just lying down and giving me kisses and making me feel so loved. I guess for them to see their mommy vulnerable is pretty darn scary.

It also made me realize just how bouncy little kids are. They fall like that all the time, cry a few minutes, and it's all over. I'm going to be sore for a while.