Why did you have to build your house out of brick?

Twice in the past year I have been driving down the interstate and my cell phone rings. It's my son's grandfather, "Your child has just been hurt. What hospital should I bring him to?" Those are not very pleasant words for a mother to hear. Immediately fear grips my heart and my eyes well up with tears fearing the worst. How bad is it?
Almost a year ago in March we bought our house. We had just closed and were beaming with excitement. We left the bank and Bobby was headed to the new house and I was headed to my parent's house to pick up the boys and bring them to meet Bobby. I was thrilled and still enjoying the excitement of what had just happened when about 10 minutes after I left the bank I got a call from my Dad. I don't remember exactly what he said, but only a few words stuck out anyway. "Matthew....hurt....head....What hospital do I take him to?" I started shaking and crying. My little boy was hurt and I really didn't know what to expect. All of the excitement was replaced with fear. Of course everything turned out fine. He has a scar to show for it , but that's life and we made it through. Turns out he tried to run through my parent's glass door in their sun room. My niece described it as he was running full steam ahead and she thought he was going to go right through the glass. Luckily, the door won and did not break. My then two-year old son had split his forehead and learned that even though you can SEE through glass you cannnot RUN through glass.
Fast forward to last Saturday. The day started off with watching the tributes to President Hinckley on the BYU channel. When I decided to take a shower, I told the boys to clean up their rooms and tidy the living room. Well instead of angelically obeying, they trashed the house. I swear it looked twice as bad. Then I walked in the living room and discovered that my husband's recliner was BROKEN. You could tell just by looking at it. I was MAD. Recliners aren't cheap. (In the end my husband fixed it so that the leg rest would fold back down, just don't put your feet up anymore because it will break again.) Now my boys spring into action and start cleaning. UGH! It shouldn't be this way, explaining my feelings of anger, frustration, oh, and regret. I overreacted and I knew better. Now I have to go to my room and finish a talk on baptism for that afternoon. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch Pres. Hinckley's funeral while it was happening so I set it up to record later. The baptism was scheduled to start when the funeral ended. I finished the talk, loaded up the kids in the van and dropped four of them off with my father-in-law. Driving down the interstate on my way to church, I checked my cell phone. It was off so I turned it on and hadn't even set it back down yet when it rang. It was my father-in-law. Again just a few words stick out and everything else is a blur. "Brian fell....,needs stitches,.....What hospital do I take him to?" I'm sure he probably told me what happened and how bad it was, but I didn't hear past my child was hurt and headed to the emergency room. Now what do I do? My husband was at work and I was going to talk at a baptism in a few minutes. I rationalized that it could take a while in the waiting room and maybe I could give my talk and then leave as soon as I was done. I could be out of there in 15 minutes. I said I would give this talk and I didn't want to disappoint an 8 yr old little girl. (sense of responsibilty) I called my husband at work and told him my plan, he called the hospital to tell them that Brian was on his way and I might be a little late with the insurance card.
I got to church and the funeral was still on. I didn't want to go in the chapel, because I didn't want to turn my phone off. So I paced and paced in the foyer. We needed to get this baptism started so I could get to the hospital. I need to go be with Brian. What if he is scared? Daddy is at work and Mommy is still at church. Brian really does need me. I checked the time on my phone again. 1:27 - I was really anxious for this 1:30 baptism to start. (urgency) The funeral was still on. What do I do? I walked into the chapel, sat down next to a missionary, told her I was meeting my son at the hospital, I wasn't staying for the baptism and left. I got to the hospital and was surprised that my father-in-law wasn't there yet. I waited for them and when I saw Brian and his Paw-Paw walking toward the ER they were laughing!! Brian was holding a towel and big bag of ice over his face and Paw-Paw was trying to hold Brian up who was having trouble walking in his skate shoes. Everytime Brian would slip in his shoes they would start giggling. When he took the towel off his head, WHEW - I had seen worse. This was gonna be fine. What a relief!!!
While they were driving Brian asked, "Paw-Paw, why did you have to build your house out of brick? Wood would have been safer."
The ER doc was great. He told us that he could glue it, but he would prefer to stitch it. He explained the options to Brian and let him choose. Not me, his mother, no, he asked Brian to decide. Brian chose stitches!! I think even the doctor was surprised and told Brian that he had made a "wise" decision. He explained everything to Brian, who was calm and very brave through the whole thing. I never saw him cry. I was amazed!!! In the past Matthew has been wrapped up in a sheet and held down while I run down the hall because I couldn't stand to hear him screaming. But Brian was awesome! I offered him anything he wanted for dinner. He chose waffles and ice cream. :)

When we got home I sat down and watched the funeral. I cried and laughed as I watched. Some of the pictures of Pres. Hincklely remind me of my grandfather. The gray hair, gold wire rimmed bifocal glasses, his wrinkles and that twinkle in his eye. I miss him a lot.
Then the phone rang with news of an engagment. (See Blessing #5)

So that was my day Saturday. I yelled at my kids, ran out on my responsibilities at church, rushed to the ER, cried at a funeral and ran through the house with excitement (the engagement). That was a good note to end the day on.