Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Oh No Hero

The other day I heard a frantic pounding at the front door. Since this is how the neighbor girls announce their arrival, I stuck my head out to say that little kid couldn't play and saw one lone girl from around the bend, with tear-stained cheeks, who was shrieking that her brother was hurt.

I am not good in emergencies. At all. This isn't me just being self-deprecating either--I really suck. Once an old lady fainted while sitting next to me at an outdoor event and my first thought was, "Oh crap, why is this happening?" and then not as much action followed as one would like to hope. Luckily, there are better people than me in the world.

(The old lady was fine, thank goodness, and those better people of the world act fast.)

So my mind was racing that I hoped a real adult would step in as I pounded the pavement to get to him. There are 3 Ashleys on our street--one is his mother, one is me, and one is the neighbor behind me. He was lying in the third Ashley's yard and there was a lot of blood.

He had fallen off of his bike and the hand brake punctured his thigh. There was a lot of blood.

I told her to run back to my house and get my phone and a big handful of paper towels. Have I mentioned there was a lot of blood?

I said "Oh no, oh no, oh no" a lot as I told him it would be okay. I fumbled with my phone when I finally got it, calling half of my contacts list and yelling, "ASHLEY?!? NOT YOU, GOD NOT YOU!" before hanging up on several people, including one of my clients who was waiting for a return call, as I tried to find her number in my shaky panic. Finally, I found her:

"ASHLEY? It's Ashley! Your son is hurt, not REALLY bad but pretty bad, I mean, he's okay but there's blood--we're in the other Ashley's yard. Come now!"

She sped up in her minivan and whisked him to the emergency room. My adrenaline was on high alert for the rest of the night.

Thankfully, he only needed a few stitches and he's fine.

But she texted me this morning to tell me her daughter had to write an essay at school about a hero...and she picked me. *Sniff*

I'm immensely, ridiculously proud, even though I don't quite fit the standard definition for heroism. No one's ever called me a hero before, I'll take it however I can get it.

6 comments:

Anna C. Winter said...

Go Ashley! You're the best! The yoga transformation has clearly already begun!

Anonymous said...

It's so nice when anyone pays you a compliment , but this surpasses that by so much.
I hope you enjoy being someones hero.
My 11 year old brother rescued me from drowning in knee deep water - ( if only I had stood up) when I was 4 .
He is still my hero.
It's nice to know that someone is there to lend a helping hand - even if it is shaking quite a bit.
Kind Regards
CAthy

My3grcs said...

That's awesome!! I don't think I would have done as well as you did. I tend to overreact with lots of blood.

Anonymous said...

This was beautiful :')

-Murphy

Nova said...

Last year I was walking through a square and I found a man totally knocked out on the sidewalk with blood coming from his head and I thought the same thing...why is this happening NOW? Can't somebody else do it? You know what, no they couldn't so I had to get help myself ... I bet a lot of people think those things when they don't really know what to do. (He was ok btw)

Julie H said...

Oh poor little guy!!