Wednesday, September 06, 2006

A reminder

Today one of our students was hit by a car riding his bike to school. He was hit so hard that his helmet was knocked off, and he hit the ground head first. His backpack was wedged into the grill of the Expedition that hit him, and his bike was snapped in half. He's critical.

He turned 12 just last week. This would have been his seventh day as a junior high school student.

The father of this boy's best friend came to pick his son up and tell him what had happened. I can't describe the sounds the boy made when he found out. That pain is something a little boy shouldn't have to feel.

Our principal spent most of the day at the hospital, with the boy's family. Luckily, it appears none of the students knew about it, because news like that travels fast.

Tomorrow will be hard for everyone. The kids that know him will be upset, and the kids that don't will want to talk about the ghastly nature of the accident. It was reported with great detail on the news tonight.

I'm also babysitting Greta the Grouch again. My friend's husband's mother in Wisconsin is not doing well. She's bedridden, but somehow mysteriously broke her hip last week at the nursing home. She's also stopped eating, and by her request before she got sick, will not receive a feeding tube if this continues. My friend and her husband are driving to Los Angeles tonight to catch a flight out. His mother is five years younger than mine.

Today, other people are feeling incredible pain; for me, it's just peripheral. But it's still there.

A reminder to me to think of all I have. A reminder I wish I never had, but nonetheless; I'm so lucky for all the joy, and friends and my basic good health (BTW, I have an appointment for an ultra-sound for my lady parts problems. There's a possibility I have some kind of plumbing issue that's been causing this trouble).


Prayer to me is not asking God or anyone else for favors. It's more of the directed thoughts for strength or courage or wisdom. I believe in the power of will and thought and intention; sometimes it's called prayer.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Anne Lammott; she said there's basically only two prayers for her:
"Help me, help me, help me," and "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Both sum it up for me tonight.

4 comments:

tornwordo said...

That was nice. sorry about the student. Glad you are gaining some perspective from the bad turn of events.

Doug said...

That's a great reminder. Thanks for sharing it.

Granted, your pain may not be as intense as others', but still I hope yours goes away soon.

GayProf said...

That’s really sad about the student. Somehow it did not surprise me that the driver owned an Expedition.

It is good to think about the positive things in our life.

Chunks said...

Help me and Thank You work very well together.

I feel so bad for the student that was hit, how is he doing?

Sending good thoughts your way...