July 14 – “Hug swoosh crash”

We had a bit of a crisis yesterday right after our breakfast of champions (read here “donuts”).  Mom woke up and made her way into the dining room.  I encouraged her to have a seat at the table and I would bring her some breakfast.  That’s her usual routine.  So far so good.  I stepped into the kitchen and began fixing her usual bowl of raisin bran.  About that time three-year-old Josiah decided to make his appearance, and in his big-hearted way, he wanted to greet his MeeMaw with a big good morning.  There’s just something about little kids that brings out the best in all of us, I guess.  Mom saw him and even appeared to hear his timid, “Good morning, MeeMaw.”  Her eye lit up.  A big grin spread across her face.  And she leaned down to give him a quick hug.  Except the hug wasn’t so quick.  She decided to enhance it with one of those swing you side to side kind of motions that only great grandmas can do effectively.  To his everlasting credit, Josiah held his ground and even patted her arm as she shifted back and forth.

That’s when the difficulty occurred.  Apparently one hug-swoosh went a little farther than she could control, and Mom completely lost her balance.  Before I could drop the raisin bran box the two of them were crashing to the floor locked in an awkward embrace.  I was afraid Josiah would end up on the bottom of the pile, but fortunately they were in the midst of somewhat of a backswing, so they hit the floor side to side.  Not a sound came from either of them except the dull thud of bodies hitting the tile.  The lack of a scream or cry of even a respectable “oof” was kind of unnerving.  I quickly reached their side and began the process of extricating Josiah from Mom’s clutches.  I assured her that I would take care of him.  She should just stay calm and stay on the floor for a moment.  Josiah was more scared than hurt, I could see that right away.  Mom’s arms had protected him from the brunt of the fall.  I finally gathered him into my arms and asked if he was OK.  And that was his turning point.  The tears began to flow.  I held him and let him cry for a minute or two.  Hey, I would have bawled, too, in his place.  That was a scary thing that just happened.  I carried him with me to go get Chris’ assistance, and by the time we got back to the scene he had settled down some.  I asked him again if he was OK, and he finally mustered a sniffling, “I OK,” followed by, “Is MeeMaw OK?”  He hovered nearby as we tended to her, asking intermittently about her health and concerned about the presence of blood.  How’s that for a tender heart? 

When Chris arrived on scene she asked Josiah if he was OK.  His response to her was: “Nana, I had blood coming from my nose, but when DadDad picked me up, it all went back inside.”  Not sure where that came from.

Mom was all right, but definitely banged up a bit.  Her knee was bleeding and bruised as was a place on her hand.  Otherwise she seemed fine.  Didn’t even flinch when we helped her up and into a chair.  Chris doctored the cuts and tried to put ice on the knee, but Mom wouldn’t keep her leg elevated.  She was more interested in digging into the cereal I had by now brought to the table.  That’s my Mom. 

The moral of the story is, watch out for those great grandma swoosh hugs.  They fall into the same category as cheek pinching and hair scruffing.  They just want to say, “I love you.”  People of all ages have many different ways of showing their love.  Do your best to grin and bear it and let them have their expression.  But stay safe out there.

Psalms 100:3 says, “Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

Father, thank you for the expressions of love I got to see from the hearts of Mom and Josiah.  They sure looked different, but the love was there just the same.  Amen.