Tucson was a wonderful home for us but our neighborhood didn't lend itself to letting the kids just run out and play on their own. Luckily, there was a huge, beautiful park in the middle of our neighborhood that was directly across the street from the elementary school. A tradition developed of meeting at the park on Fridays with all of our friends to let the kids play for as long as they wanted. It was a chance for the adults to get together and the kids and just relax from the busy week. There were moms and dads that would come and we even had friends that had moved away come each week because it was so much fun. We all brought snacks and drinks for the kids and stayed for hours. The sun stays up for a long time in Tucson so there was plenty of time for the kids to really get their energy out. I miss that now that we have moved on from Tucson. It was wonderful.
This idealic experience wasn't without its bumps and bruises and we made sure to bring first aid kits too. One such day, my then seven year old son was just learning to master riding a Razor Scooter. He was borrowing a friends and scooting around the little circular sidewalk next the play ground equipment. I was up on the slide with my daughter, helping her develop her courage to slide down when I hear a scream. My son had fallen and smashed his face into the sidewalk. He did one of those slip and falls where there wasn't anytime to catch himself. He just went down hard. My maternal instincts went into overdrive and I grabbed the bar that you hold onto to get situated before sliding down the slide. I launched myself down this slide and realize just as I was coming to the bottom of the slide that I was going to catch some air. I am don't think I even touched the slide till the bottom. Sure enough I hit the bottom of the slide and went air born. I went so high I actually hung in the air for a moment. It is amazing what we are capable of being aware of all at once. I hadn't taken my eyes off my son this entire time and was thinking simultaneously, "I am going to wreck myself and I have to get to him, Mommy's coming baby!". I hit the ground with a splat and found myself on my belly for a moment, then desperately crawling on my hands and knees gripping the ground to try and get to my screaming little man. You would think my spectacle would have distracted him a bit, but he is very focused about his angst and wasn't the least bit deterred from his pain.
After crawling for a few feet I finally was able to get to my feet and run over to him. It was one of those stumble, stumble, walk, stumble, run movements. The entire time, the dad that was closest to my son was so alarmed by my gymnastics he was just standing there with his mouth open. He had completely forgotten about the little guy for a moment and was worried he was going to have two people to attend to. I finally reached my son and was able to tend to his fat lip. My friend came out of his alarmed trance and walked over to help and just looked at me like I really was crazy. I apoligized for my antics and he just started laughing. I believe I have mentioned before, my name is not Grace.
I am sure everyone else at the park saw what happened but were kind enough to not bring it up again. I was rather embarrassed about my over reaction. Especially since I could have just climbed down from the slide in the same amount of time. I suppose the show wouldn't have been as good if I had responded like a normal person. My son's lip was fine and I didn't buy him his own scooter until he was ten years old and more coordinated.
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