Sunday, January 9, 2011

Crying in front of my kids

The culprit
Canister removed and tree in its place
I hit my head today! HARD. I was in the furnace room clearing a spot for the Christmas tree. I was bent over and then when I went to stand up....the canister for the central vac, stopped me from doing so. I bent back over in pain and grabbed my head. I started to whimper and Benjamin (my oldest) came running. The other two,who were also in the basement, followed. Benjamin hugged me and said "are you alright,mom?" I started to cry. I was NOT alright.Adam just stood and stared, letting Benjamin comfort me. Olivia started to laugh and Adam said "Olivia!!" in disgust. I knew she was laughing because she was nervous. I had never cried in front of my children before today because I was physically hurt. I cried before because I was sad, or really mad but never physically in pain. It was kind of interesting to see how everyone reacted. I told Olivia and Adam to clean up their game they were playing and fled upstairs to find Brad. I was still in a lot of pain and I knew more tears were coming. He was in the shower. I lay on the bed crying and trying really hard not to. I'm not apposed to crying, it's just that the more I cried ~ the more it hurt. The top of my head felt like it had been busted open. Brad came out and said "What happened?" (very cautiously I might add). I told him I had hit my head HARD and it really really hurt. He rushed to my side to see if I was bleeding and to see if he could do anything for me. He was a little relieved that I had only banged my head and had not received any bad news. My dad just got out of the hospital on Wednesday and the first thing that came to Brad's mind was that there was trouble with my dad. So after he found out the details he headed downstairs to the scene of the crime.The bottom of the canister has been removed (we don't use it anyway...Love my Dyson) and the tree has been placed in the furnace room. Brad made supper while I lay patiently for the tylenol to kick in. I fell asleep. So after supper I started thinking about all of this. I found it very interesting how the situation made everyone feel. I: tried to hid the fullness of the pain I was in from my children and ran to my husband (my best friend) for help. Benjamin: was the comforter. The one who says "there,there, it's going to be alright" He continued to ask me how I was feeling through the rest of the night. Adam: was the quiet observer,taking in the gravity of the situation. He came to me later as I was resting to hug me. Olivia: was very uncomfortable with the whole situation and laughed nervously. She was actually quite happy that I gave her a task to do to keep her mind off of what was really happening. She later came and asked if there was anything she could "do " for me. And of course Brad: was the fixer. He's the man so he has to FIX things. The canister was removed, supper was made, meds were administered.Had it been pain of the heart he would have been at a loss as to how to fix it ....so he was happy it was just my head! lol They all have their ways of coping. Quite an interesting little stress test. But I assure you.....I did not do this on purpose. My head STILL hurts!

8 comments:

  1. I remember once when my kids were in junior high a similar thing happened to me and I bawled like a baby. They were so freaked out. I remember looking up at their faces - looking like they had just found out that the tooth fairy didn't exist. I was so surprised at their reaction but then realized that in their minds Moms don't cry when they get hurt. It was kind of like pulling the mask off a super hero in their minds. Kinda weird that I remember those faces as I read your words... Sweet to revisit those days through your eyes. Thanks again!

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  2. Wow Erin, I hope you don't have a lingering headache!!! Stress test indeed!
    My kids were like Sheila's the one time I cried too...actually, I am not gonna lie, Stu looked like he just found out the tooth fairy didn't exist too! and they all backed up and gave me space at my request...once I was able to focus on letting them know I was ok, I had three very helpful family members by my side!

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  3. Brad said that Benjamin said to him "I thought adults only swore when they were hurt!?" LOL I was in too much pain to think of a word to say. couldn't speak! I thought that was funny though. The little things our kids learn.

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  4. I cried the other day....(not because I was hurt)...after a hug from Jakob and a "there's nothing to be afraid about mommy" he said to himself, "I know I will go to my room." I immediately wondered if there was psychological damage done to my son earlier that would prompt this but then he returned with his smurf and gave it to me....this story almost calls for its own blog post. Kids are funny.

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  5. awwww....I can just hear him saying that. The learning process is amazing. Especially from 0-5! so awesome!So much to take in!

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  6. It's good you let your kids see you cry. I don't think we should hide our pain, or any other emotion, from our children. They need to know we have feelings, and experience how we express them.
    I used to be afraid of of crying in front of my kids, used to hold it back. But it's important they understand that parents, like them, are human, too.
    Sweet post.

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  7. Oh man, this sounds terrible! I'm so glad you didn't get a concussion or something!

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  8. thanks for the concern! I woke the next day with a doozie of a headache. It lasted off and on throughout the day. Today I feel a lot of "tightness" on the top of my head( for lack of a better word". I'm on the mend!

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