Twelve Stitches!

My husband and I have 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl, ages 16, 14, and 10. All are wonderful and unique in their own way. They have some similarities. But their differences definitely outweigh the similarities. All have their turn at keeping us on our toes. Lately, it is the 14 year old that is keeping us not just on our toes but hopping and jumping all over the place. He gives us the most practice at using our parenting skills as he likes to push himself to just outside of his allotted boundary lines. He also thinks that he is unbreakable and made of Teflon.
Yesterday, he went with his friends to "Buddy Day" (orientation for incoming 9th graders) at the High School. After "Buddy Day" was over he and some of his friends were supposed to walk back to our house to hang for the day. Well, they decided not to do that. They decided to go to Taco Bell and then to a playground near the Middle School. Of course I had to call him to find out where he was. Now that I knew where he was I decided to go shopping for school supplies. I asked him if he wanted to come and he replied "EW- No". So I took the other two. The store I was going to was only up the street from where he was.
For the next 45 minutes we trotted through the local office supply store with lists from schools that have arrived in the mail. Dutifully we found all of the items on the lists plus a few new things for mom's desk at her school. We approach the check out and stand on a line which seems like a mile long. It is finally our turn and we begin to put our items on the counter and the girl begins to scan our items and my phone begins to ring from inside my purse. My older son says "Ignore it". But my gut says answer it. He is closer to my purse than I am, so he answers it. I continue to work with the clerk on checking out our items and I hear "What! You're bleeding! Where are you? How did that happen?" I stopped and stared at my son who has now hung up. He tells me that the 14 year old fell, is bleeding but does not want to picked up and taken home. I send my son and daughter to the car and I call my bleeding son back and convince him that we should pick him up and bring him home. We pack the car and I take the keys from my older son. This is no time for him to practice driving! We jump in the car and race to the playground. We find my son standing with his friends. He gets in the car. He has a big gash over his left eye and that area of his face is covered in dried blood. But he insists that he is fine. On the way home my husband called just to check in. I tell him what happened and because he was close to home at the time, he decided to go home. We get home and I get him into the bathroom and sit hm down and I begin to clean up the wound with gauze and disinfectant. As I clean it,he begins to tell me what happened. At the playground there was an abandoned shopping cart. One of his friends decided to push the cart down the slide. Watching this, my son gets the bright idea and says "Wait! Let me get in it before you push it down the slide." So, he gets in the cart and his friend pushes him down the slide. He rolls down the slide in the cart. As the slide hits the ground, it bottomed out, my son toppled over and the cart came down on him, hitting him just above his left eye. Real smart eh? And one of his other friends caught the whole thing on video! This show is to be posted on Youtube.
I decided to call our pediatrician's office to see if I could bring him to have the wound looked at. I was put on hold for what seemed like an eternity. Once the receptionist got back on the phone she said I could bring him in at 5:30 (it was 3:45 and he is still bleeding). I told her that he was bleeding and she said "OK 4:45, but we are very booked with 'WELL VISITS'". I get his bleeding under control and we go to the doctor at 4:30. We arrive at the doctor's office. My son is holding a bloody gauze to his head and we are told to sit down only after I pay the co-payment immediately. We sit in the waiting room and watch all of the babies who are "WELL" escorted into the examining rooms. Finally, 30 minutes after we arrived, we are called in. My son doesn't even sit down but the nurse takes one look at his head and BOLTS down the hall for the doctor. The doctor comes quickly. She looked at my son's wound for 2 seconds and says "Good-bye! Go to the E.R. He needs stitches." Back in the car we go. I call my husband. I call my mom. I tell them all where we have to go and we were off to the hospital down the street. We arrived at the hospital at 5:15. 4 hours and 12 stitches later, we arrived home. Most of the time spent at the hospital was time waiting for the on call plastic surgeon to arrive.
Today the eye is black and blue and swollen. He thinks he looks cool and is hoping for a cool scar.
I am grateful, that he only needed stitches and not a new eye! I am grateful that he did not hit his head and do any permanent damage. I am grateful that I still have my son!
My Affirmation for today reads: "All is well in my world. Everything is working out for my highest good. Out of this situation only good will come. I am safe."
I think that my son has learned a valuable lesson. He said that he will never do that again. Maybe, now he will stay inside his allotted boundary line. At least for a little while anyway. For me this was a little scary and quite earth shattering. But, this situation happened for a reason and I know that all is well and there is a lesson to be learned and it will all come to light for us so that we could grow together as a family.