We had a neighborhood “pie night” hosted by our friends in their cul de sac last night to kick off the week of Thanksgiving. As we wrapped up the evening and made our exit by foot, and long boards, and bikes – Briggs had a minor crash on his bike (luckily he was wearing a helmet protecting his noggin). We all saw him go down but there were no tears. Embarrassed, he made his way over to me when I notice blood starting to roll down his chin, which oddly enough still did not illicit any tears. (Helmets are useful, but they don’t offer much chin protection!)
We made our way to our friend and doctor, who happened to be hosting the event, to take a look and the minute the word “stitches” was uttered, Briggs was a hysterical mess. Unfortunately for Briggs, he only heard “stitches” and not “he shouldn’t need stitches”. I knew we were going to do a quick glue up at home but the whole way home Briggs was in tears. It wasn’t until we were pulling up to our house that I reiterated he didn’t need stitches and in the calmest voice with a few nose sniffles, he replied, “Oh good! I was really worried about the stitches.” No more tears.
He was a good little patient as we got him all cleaned up and glue and bandaged properly. In fact he nearly fell asleep as he lay on the counter waiting for the glue to dry.
Luckily, we don’t have any family pictures planned any time soon!
This little incident was a gentle reminder of something that I am beyond grateful for this season of Thanksgiving. I cannot express enough gratitude for the community that surrounds our family. Our friends, and neighbors, and church family, and school family and sports family – they make our world go round. They lift us up and bring energy to our lives. They pick up the pieces and solve problems for us. They welcome us into their homes and treat us like family.
I recognize that we have an unusually large and supportive community and I am grateful for it each and every day. #givethanks
