Guaranteed words to freak out a mother, no?
So, apparently my 13-year old daughter “got stuck in a tree.” What that apparently means is that she was walking and not paying attention and walked into a tree and scraped her cheek and forehead. It’s also quite a literal translation for how a child would say this in Hebrew…but the translation doesn’t quite work in English.
And thus began a conversation to understand how bad the injury was – considering that I’m a good 2 hours away by car and her father is in a meeting.
“It’s not bad. You can barely see the scrape on my forehead. And my hair covers it.”
“Can you send me a picture?” I wasn’t sure what to think, but she sounded fine, even cheerful.I asked her so I figured a picture might tell me what was happening more than her description.
“No, because then you’ll freak out. And it will look bigger than it is. I only lost a little blood and I put ice on it right away.”
Blood? Ice? She sounds fine, I kept reminding myself, despite the amazing logic of a child. So, with a promise not to freak out, she sent me a picture.
Not so bad…considering she got stuck on a tree…
You scared me!
Oh my word!! Scariest words for a parent to hear! Glad it wasn’t more serious.
Sorry to scare you, Batya – it was really a funny conversation…once I realized that it wasn’t serious. And yes, Cindy…quite scary words…but thankfully, she’s really fine.