A Do-Over

 

It was a sunny, crisp fall day as Ben, Ellie, & I walked to school.  Ellie was laughing about something Ben had just said or done (he is a comedian in his spare time, particularly for his sister).  When suddenly, Ellie fell flat on the sidewalk.  I mean, flat, on her face lying on the sidewalk. 

 

My first, completely crazy thought was that she was having a seizure.  (Crazy because she never just falls down when she is having a seizure, there are always fun pre-cursors like throwing up or wetting her pants.)  Then, I realized she had tripped over a gaping crack in the sidewalk.  I helped her pick herself up, and dusted her off, asking what she had hurt in her fall.  She said that she had hurt her knees and her elbow.  The amazing thing was that she only had a slight scratch on those areas. 

 

Before Ellie even finished crying, she asked if she could do a “do-over”.  A do-over is when you get a second chance; you get to try again (we have had many do-overs during our summer of Crazy, 2008—a future blog).  We continued our walk, but this time, three-year-old Ben insisted on finding every crack in the sidewalk, and straddling it while yelling, “Watch out, Ellie, there’s a crack!!”  Although I wouldn’t wish for Ellie to fall down ever, seeing the resilience and ability of my children to help themselves and one another was amazing.