We've had our fair share of drama this week. The most frightening being when our neighbor Kaden was hit by a car outside of school. He's ok, but it was still terrifying. We carpool with Kaden, a third grader, so Atticus was standing on the curb with Kaden's stepdad, Mick, when Kaden ran out into the crosswalk. The first car had seen Kaden holding a flag and stopped, but the second car didn't. And since Kaden was running, she didn't have time to stop. According to witnesses, he flew pretty far when he was hit, and then landed on his wrist. He has a broken wrist and road rash on his face, but no internal or brain injuries. Lucky, lucky, blessed boy.
Mick immediately ran to Kaden, leaving Atticus alone on the curb. Other adults there took care of my now-hysterical boy and started leading him to the office when a friend of ours from our last ward found him. She called me and stayed with him until I arrived.
Atticus had calmed down by the time I arrived and was acting normal, if a bit restless. He didn't want to talk about the accident, so I told him he could talk about it when he was ready. We drove home in silence, then picked up James and headed to the library. As we were walking in to the library, James said, "You don't need to talk about it now, but sometime tonight I'm going to want you to tell me what happened and what you saw." Atticus nodded. A minute later he said, "Dad, if you want to know what happened, I'm available now." So he told us about it. He'd thought Kaden was dead. He was scared and alone on the curb, but people helped him. He was visibly relieved when I got the report from the hospital that Kaden would be ok.
Whenever we talked to Mick, his first concern was for Atticus. He felt horrible that he'd had to leave him like that, but what choice did he have? We assured him he was fine. The school and his teachers were very kind to Atticus, too. When the school brought Kaden balloons and cards, they brought a big balloon for Atticus as well.
Oh, and all of this happened the day before I went in for surgery. Veronica, Kaden's mom, was going to take the boys to school, pick them up, and keep Atticus for us until I got home. Slight change of plans... But it all worked out perfectly. My surgery was scheduled later than expected, so I was able to take Atticus to school. James was able to leave early to pick him up. And my parents were already in Salt Lake with my sister who had also had surgery the day before, so they picked me up and took me home.
Now I'm hobbling around on a sore ankle (removed my hardware from the accident) and a tender tummy (gall bladder removal). Eating pudding and funeral potatoes. Could be a lot worse.
So that was our week. How was yours?
