My children like to remind me on occasion about my mishaps, and of course giggle. It usually goes something like this. "Mom, remember when you got glass in your eye?". "Hee hee!". These conversations are usually preceded by some new klutzy thing I have done to injure myself. There is a tremendous resource of life experiences for my children to draw on in my little and big emergencies. I suppose now that I have brought it up, you are wondering about the glass in my eye? Alright, I will share.
In our old home, old meaning previous but also very ancient, we had windows that were comprised of many small panes to create the one large window. The window panes were single pane glass and provided little protection from the outside world. They were also held in by something called glazing. Glazing is a putty type product that you roll between your hands and make long snake like pieces. It is like working with play dough. The glazing is then pressed and smoothed into the frame on top of the glass and molded into the corners to hold the glass in place. When it dries it becomes very hard and becomes airtight, if done correctly. This hardness makes it difficult to get a pane of glass out that has been cracked or broken and needs to be replaced. Real window pane experts will also use very small tacks to help keep the glass secured to the frame which makes freeing the broken glass even more difficult.
I was in our bathroom moving something long and skinny around and I hear a pop! I had broken the window. This really wasn't that big a deal because there were several broken windows at all times in our house. If the wind blew too hard a window would crack. I decided I would save my husband an addition to his "honey do" list and fix the window myself. It couldn't be that hard, right?
I pulled the larger pieces of the broken glass out and started scraping the glass that was bonded to the frame by the glaze. In order to do this the only effective tool to use was a Flathead screwdriver. I am feeling pretty good about myself at this point. I am replacing a window pane. I am sooo cool! There is a reason safety glasses are recommended equipment when doing home projects. You just never know how your enthusiasm is going to get the better of you when you start really going at something. Well, I was getting frustrated with getting this glass cleaned out of the frame and really went at it, without any eye protection. I was scraping like a crazy person and all of sudden, I feel something ping/stab me in the eye. My first reaction was to freak out but I didn't. I just stood there holding my eye open waiting for inspiration to come as to what to do next. I was probably making a bit of a commotion because my oldest son ran into the bathroom and screamed, "I'll call 911 Mom!". He looked like Kramer from the "Seinfeld Show" entering the room. His eyes were a bit crazed and his voice cracked. I thought he was going to have an accident himself. He had the phone in his hand and started to dial, because he has had to do it for me before, while I am yelling at him, "No! No!, I don't need an ambulance!". It was then the idea hit me to flush my eye with water. I ran into the other bathroom, because the one I was in was under construction, and began throwing water into my eye. If you have ever had to not blink for a while, it is really hard. Those muscles work independent of regular brain commands and I had to hold my eye lid up so it wouldn't come down and move the glass shard around on my eyeball and cut it up. Happily, a cool head prevailed again and the glass washed right out. It was pretty big for an eye ball and I was relieved no medical personnel had to be involved. My eye wasn't even sore because it came out pretty quickly. I then had to calm my son down and reassure him no damage had been done.
So what are the lessons here? Stay calm and listen to that voice that God sends to tell us how to handle things beyond our abilities. Teach your children how to dial 911 and how to check if you are unconscious. This saves them from calling if you are taking a nap. Wear protective eye wear when doing household repair jobs or anything where something could fly into your eye. Also, Try to evaluate whether what your are attempting is going to help or cause more work for the person that actually knows how to do the job right.
By the time my husband had come home from work, I had picked up all of the broken glass and taped a file folder into the window for him to repair. And yes, I apoligized for "helping" him.
I am happy to report, I have had no lasting effects of the glass in my eye and that I learned how to properly replace the broken windows in our house just in time to fix the five other broken panes before we moved. I wore protective eye wear this time.
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