To make a long story short. My daughter Larraine received a deep laceration on her right upper arm on her deltoid. We were just getting over the issue of her broken left arm and it's healing. And now, we're hit with this incident. When Rhoda told me last night what happened. My reply was, "WHAT?!". I just could not believe that this was happening again. I started asking the thousand interrogating questions. Okay it was only some questions but I wanted to ask a thousand. I just did not have the load on my cellphone to do so.
"What Happened?", I asked.
"She got cut playing along the river", Rhoda replied.
"How did she get cut?"
"Larraine didn't say much".
Her reply later today when asked by her mommy was, "I don't know, mommy, it just cut itself while I was playing".
You can love them so much, but it's hard to protect them every second, minute, and hour. Now I know how my parents felt when I was jumping off the roof of my house at Larraine's age, or jumping out of the mango trees, or climbing things that I was not supposed to climb.
You could almost say that a parent's revenge on their kids, is when we have kids of our own. They warn us not to get hurt, but they don't tell us why.
"Don't jump off the roof!"
"Why?"
"Because I said so!"
Or, they tell us this:
"You break your neck, I'm going to kill you!"
We maybe young back then but we were not stupid. How will our parents kill us if we're already dead?
They should sit us down and talk to us. "If you jump off the roof and break your leg. Not only will you feel it now, but you will feel the actions of your pain in 30 to 40 years from now". If I did it again. Then it's on me because I didn't listen. But no, they didn't tell us why or how we will feel in 20 to 30 years. They decided to let us find out on our own.
So 30-40 year later, getting out of bed becomes a chore in itself. When I go to a cold climate or when the temperature drops here on the island. I can feel all the bones that I've broken the years before. I can still recall the scars on my body from my youth indiscretions. I take pain killers now to help me get over the injuries that I received as an airborne paratrooper.
You will feel the reminders of your youth later on as you get older. Sometimes a lot sooner than expected.
I don't want Larraine to grow up unable to have fun. I cannot be around her every second of the day. It is hard enough being thousands of miles away. All I can do for now is to continue loving her and hoping that she continues to learn what her mommy and I teach her.
Keep Smiling
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