This morning at the bus stop the 6th grader was playing basketball in front of her house, also the bus stop. The hoop is right next to the street since they have a gravel driveway. She is an okay shot but not a terrific player. She threw one in the air from across the street and missed the basket completely and hit Ridge smack in the side of the head, knocking him over. I turned just in time to see the ball contact with his head. I helped him up and he was crying but trying really hard not to break out into sobs. He was saying, "I don't want to go to school" over and over. So I told him that I would drive him to school that day. We walked home, he calmed down and then I drove him to school. He didn't want to be dropped off so I walked him inside.
He seems like such a big boy these days but today I was reminded that he is still little. I was reminded of how it feels to be the little kid amoung the 4th-6th graders, how it can feel so daunting to be smaller, how you try to fit in and be cool, and then he gets knocked in the head. These years ahead of him can be so tough! And it reminded me of how much I want to protect him but I can't always be there to do that, even when I'm standing right behind him.
3 comments:
And it never stops--that need to protect them--even when they don't want us to. But we still always stand right behind them anyway. Love just does that.
One of the least known laws of physics is that a bouncing basketball is magnetically attracted to the the head of the smallest child in a 20 foot radius. Seems like every time a child was at the church after a youth activity, the YM would be playing ball, the kid would run onto the court and within a few seconds the ball would bounce off the top of his/her head!
Poor Ridge. I feel the same way about Luke. He's still just a little boy and it can be hard to remember that sometimes.
this whole thing brought me right back to that time..I can remember the fear like it were yesterday. Its also nice to remember my mom saving me the few times that she could and how grateful I am for mothers(and Paige's) everywhere who are doing what Heavenly Father trusted them to do.
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