Flashbacks

Once upon a time, back before digital cameras and Press-and-Seal Glad Wrap I had a three year old boy. And, he was usually a good boy, but sometimes he was naughty and it did no good to spank him, because spankings did not phase him a bit. So, he was sent to his room when he misbehaved. He hated that, and it usually got him to turn his behavior around. It was the consequence that really made an impact on him. (All I had to do for his two-year old sister was look at her sideways and she'd straighten up in a heartbeat, but *sigh* this was not Aaron's fate.)

One day, I can't even remember the offense, but it was serious enough to land him in his room (and, I am a softie, so it had to be pretty bad...). Aaron was crying, not out of remorse (he was, after all, a NORMAL three year old!), but out of the audacity of a mom who caught him doing something naughty and actually giving him consequences he didn't like! Hmph! He stormed down the hall and into his room, wailing all the way for effect. He wailed for a while, then he started screaming! And screaming!

Now, this mommy had enough drama for one event, so I yelled down the hall to knock it off! (Sounds merciful enough, right?) He yelled louder. For crying out loud! (no pun intended...) I marched down the hall, getting angrier with each step, flung his door open to find him hunched up against the far wall with burns on his hands. I was confused. I looked at the outlet by the door, and there were burned flame marks all the way up the wall - and a charred wire on the floor. Apparently he decided to stick a pipe cleaner in the grounding hole AND the plug part of the outlet.

The next part was a blur. I called nurse triage, but couldn't hear, because Aaron was screaming. I called Mike and told him to get home and turn the power off, because I didn't know if the wiring was smoldering in the wall, then I told him to meet me in the ER. We had just moved there (of course), so I wasn't even sure where the hospital was, but followed the "H" signs. I called a woman I just met at preschool and asked if she'd meet us at the ER and take Bridgette (she became one of my best friends). The ride to the ER was chaos. It's funny to think of it now, but it was not funny at the time. Aaron was screaming, I was crying, and Bridgette (don't ask me where she heard this or why she was saying this) was screaming "DO YOU KNOW JESUS???" over and over until we got to ER. I think THAT freaked me out more than anything - this 2 year old was screaming that - this 2 year old who could barely say anything intelligent was screaming "DO YOU KNOW JESUS?" I was thinking Aaron was going to die!

Aaron was screaming so badly that they couldn't even hear his heart, and I couldn't get him calmed down. Mike got there, and he yelled at Aaron to be quiet. It seemed so mean! But, it did the trick. Thank goodness for the wisdom of Daddies! They got his heart rate, and kept him for observation for a while, and in the end he was just burned badly. Ugh!

I was thinking of that today. Aaron is now interested in Electronics and wiring. Monday we have a meeting at the Middle School to plan his high school classes for next year. It's crazy! All this time has passed, and that trip to the ER is still close enough at the edges of my memory to touch. I can still walk the halls of that house we no longer live in that I love, if not in reality then in reviewing the movie that plays in my mind. The house in the woods that my children spent most of their childhood in, and in a way the place where I felt I grew up the most in all the ways that really matter. When I was younger and had little ones. You moms of little ones, I know it's cliche', but relish these times, and commit them to memory. Tell your stories over and over so you don't forget. Your kids and your mom friends will love hearing them, anyhow! And soon, you'll be meeting to plan your babies' high school classes. And you will hardly be able to believe it yourself. I promise you. It will come quicker than you can imagine.