Mothering Someone Elses Child....
This past week... I have been pondering. A lot.
Monday night... as my SIL and I were walking back to my house for "Family Fun Nite"
we heard a tremendous crash....looked up to see smoke... and realized that, just across the street, there was an awful accident.
A tiny yugo type-car met with a king-cab truck.
We thought surely there was at least one fatality, because the drivers side of the car was completely caved so...and the truck's drive-shaft was on the ground.
We hastened our walk... and saw three teenage boys get out of the small car, all with head traumas. They were wandering around....in shock, one missing a shoe.
I looked over at the king-cab-truck...and it's driver, a grown man, was standing there. He probably was in shock.
He'd been at fault... and in the accident, also hit the car to his right. The driver of that car, a woman, was sobbing into her cellphone.
I think what struck me the most, was that not one single bystander offered to help these boys, all groaning, wandering around in shock, and bleeding as only headwounds do.
My SIL and I had the same instinct at nearly the same time...
We guided the boys to the curb, and had them sit/lay down until help arrived.
They were dazed, and scared.
I rubbed one boys arm, cooing motherly-like words...my throat tight with worry.
"Shhhh. You're ok. Just rest... don't move."
My SIL started asking simple questions....to keep them calm, lucid and thinking.
"What's your name?
What school do you go to?
Do you have anyone you want us to call?"
Between the two of us, we carried on conversations with them until the ambulance arrived..and the meddic took over.
We stood back... watching...to be sure...
well, I'm not sure what we were wanting to be sure of....
that these boys, someone's sons, were going to be ok.
We finally headed back home.
I couldn't stop thinking about those young teenagers, and what impact this accident would have on their lives.
I thought of the driver who caused the accident...and wondered how he would process all of this.
And I thought of the parents of these kids...
And what they would fear now, every time these kids left home.
It had a very profound effect on me...
I can't help thinking about mortality and how quickly life changes.
Yesterday... M came home from work telling me that the grandmother of one of the boys had come into the grocery store she works at... and bought a bunch of first aid stuff. When the cashier struck up a friendly conversation, asked her what she was buying it all for... the grandmother shared that her grandson had been in an accident. M asked if it was the one I'd seen, just across the road and the grandmother said "Yes." M went on to tell her that my SIL and I'd seen it and had helped the boys. The grandmother expressed her gratitude and asked her to let us know that the boys were all ok, albeit shaken up.
It made me so grateful to know that the families of these boys know that someone was there to comfort their sons....to offer them a loving touch and soft words in a time of craziness and fear.
I'm grateful I could be there.
"God could not be everywhere, so He invented Mothers."~~ Unknown
Monday night... as my SIL and I were walking back to my house for "Family Fun Nite"
we heard a tremendous crash....looked up to see smoke... and realized that, just across the street, there was an awful accident.
A tiny yugo type-car met with a king-cab truck.
We thought surely there was at least one fatality, because the drivers side of the car was completely caved so...and the truck's drive-shaft was on the ground.
We hastened our walk... and saw three teenage boys get out of the small car, all with head traumas. They were wandering around....in shock, one missing a shoe.
I looked over at the king-cab-truck...and it's driver, a grown man, was standing there. He probably was in shock.
He'd been at fault... and in the accident, also hit the car to his right. The driver of that car, a woman, was sobbing into her cellphone.
I think what struck me the most, was that not one single bystander offered to help these boys, all groaning, wandering around in shock, and bleeding as only headwounds do.
My SIL and I had the same instinct at nearly the same time...
We guided the boys to the curb, and had them sit/lay down until help arrived.
They were dazed, and scared.
I rubbed one boys arm, cooing motherly-like words...my throat tight with worry.
"Shhhh. You're ok. Just rest... don't move."
My SIL started asking simple questions....to keep them calm, lucid and thinking.
"What's your name?
What school do you go to?
Do you have anyone you want us to call?"
Between the two of us, we carried on conversations with them until the ambulance arrived..and the meddic took over.
We stood back... watching...to be sure...
well, I'm not sure what we were wanting to be sure of....
that these boys, someone's sons, were going to be ok.
We finally headed back home.
I couldn't stop thinking about those young teenagers, and what impact this accident would have on their lives.
I thought of the driver who caused the accident...and wondered how he would process all of this.
And I thought of the parents of these kids...
And what they would fear now, every time these kids left home.
It had a very profound effect on me...
I can't help thinking about mortality and how quickly life changes.
Yesterday... M came home from work telling me that the grandmother of one of the boys had come into the grocery store she works at... and bought a bunch of first aid stuff. When the cashier struck up a friendly conversation, asked her what she was buying it all for... the grandmother shared that her grandson had been in an accident. M asked if it was the one I'd seen, just across the road and the grandmother said "Yes." M went on to tell her that my SIL and I'd seen it and had helped the boys. The grandmother expressed her gratitude and asked her to let us know that the boys were all ok, albeit shaken up.
It made me so grateful to know that the families of these boys know that someone was there to comfort their sons....to offer them a loving touch and soft words in a time of craziness and fear.
I'm grateful I could be there.
"God could not be everywhere, so He invented Mothers."~~ Unknown
Comments
As a mom, I would sure want someone to step in and give that kind of love that only a fellow mom can give if I couldn't do it myself.
You are a good egg Lammy!! A really good egg.