223.
When I heard the crash, my heart stopped, and for a brief moment, one of my nightmares was playing out in the road two stories below. It was mid-afternoon, and Prince Firstly should be rolling across the street and up the driveway on his bike at any moment. As long as he could avoid being hit by a car in the two blocks between here and the high school, that is...
Thankfully, here in the real world, no one was hurt in the fender-bender outside my house. And our boy was still at school, nowhere near the scene.
But, still. It struck me just how quickly my mind leapt to the worst case scenario. When I think back, the sound was definitely of two heavy metal objects smashing together. And, wasn't he at track practice for another half hour? These are the kind of rational considerations that come second, only after the initial, momentary, adrenaline-laced panic takes hold.
This "panic first, think later" approach is an occupational hazard of parenthood. And, it's only made worse if you are a congenital worrywart, like me. But, haven't the last fifteen-plus years of parenting been an unending string of lessons in how to conquer fear and worry? You'd think I'd be better at it by now...
2 comments:
Earlier tonight, Halloween of all nights, as I was carving a pumpkin and my husband sat on the couch watching TV, our 2 year old daughter suddenly walked in through the front door of the house. From the outside! How? How? How? How did that little sneak make it out the front door without us noticing? Where was she going? How long had she been out there? Holy crap, what could have happened to her if she hadn't come back in?
New locks, that's what we need.
I understand your insta-panic. Happens to me.
All. The. Time.
The night of my brother's prom, my cat and my brother's hamster had a very unfortunate encounter. I discovered it, and ran up the stairs yelling for my dad that "Caesar's dying!! Caesar's dying!!!" - he jumped out of bed and came running. My mom was yanked from sleep by my yelling and dad's jumping and naturally her first awful thought was "The prom!!!" I think she still has heart palpitations when she thinks about that night..
Glad everyone was alright..
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