I'd write about the way he got away with wearing the same shirt two days in a row because it was his birthday and he didn't care, and about the fun lunch date I had with him and MEC at Wendy's.
I'd write about his fun "friend" birthday party, where we did some of his favorite things like make perler bead designs, play board games and eat chocolate fondue.
I'd also need to write about how were down to the wire getting the house ready for the party, blowing up balloons in the car during piano lessons and scrambling to beat the guests to the house from TLC's first cub scout den meeting.
All that was fun, but I actually have a lot more reasons to celebrate this boy after this weekend. I had a great ski day with just TLC and SCC on Saturday up at Solitude resort.
The two of them are at the point where they can ski most intermediate runs, sometimes taking cautious turns across the hill when it feels a bit too steep, but getting down just fine and getting more and more confident. So it's really getting fun to ski together. They were excited that we had tried out four lifts already that day and were asking if we could ski over to the summit lift, something we had done the last time as a bit of a challenge and that I figured we'd return to do maybe a few trips down the road. I was surprised that they were already wanting to ski that part of the resort again.
I texted TEC at the top of the lift with this photo, because I knew he'd be impressed that we were trying the summit again.
Once we started down, though, I was so glad we had done it; they were both doing so much better than last time. In fact, midway through the run, with TLC right with me and SCC following a bit more cautiously behind, I had just decided to suggest that we go back up a second time, when things took an unexpected turn.
I was turning to look back up at SCC when I saw TLC fly past me against the curve and off the trail, going through a roped area and disappearing over what looked like a cliff. Without saying a word to SCC, I zipped around the trail that followed below where he fell and found TLC on his back with skis, poles, and gloves scattered. What an awful feeling to see my child there. My heart twisted as I could see how far he had fallen and as he was telling me his back hurt. I was quietly preparing myself for the possibility that we were facing some serious damage and that TLC's eight year-old world was about to change. Soon some ski patrol individuals arrived and worked quickly and carefully to get TLC strapped to a board and onto a sled that would take him down the rest of the mountain. At some point I allowed myself to return my attention to SCC and learned that she was not up where I had left her, but had continued to ski down the mountain.
As I've reflected on the craziness of this moment, I am touched by the tender mercies that whispered calm into it all, just when we needed it. I'm not sure that TLC's accident was part of "the Plan," but I'm touched as I remember that moments before he flew past me, the three of us had stopped to talk about what trail we would be following. SCC, in her dramatic fashion, had said, "Mom, how am I supposed to know which way to go? I can't read!" I had responded, "Sure you can, SCC. You can read the word Dynamite; it has a D-y at the beginning and it will have a blue square after it. We'll follow Dynamite all the way down." That conversation immediately returned to my mind when I saw her continuing down, too far away to hear me yelling for her to stop, and reassured me some as I knew I needed to stay with TLC. I felt that somehow, she would be okay until I could get down to meet her.
When the sled carrying TLC headed down the mountain, I followed behind, praying for TLC, wishing somewhat that I had been more cautious and that I could erase what had just happened, but praying that somehow he would come out of this as the same active, bouncing kid that he is. Again, there was an immediate answer of calm--not an "everything is alright with your son's back" but definitely an assurance that I was being comforted and carried through this scary experience. There isn't much they can do with a back injury until X-rays are done, so an ambulance was called to meet us at the base clinic and take us down to Primary Children's Hospital. Everyone at the resort was on alert to look out for six year-old SCC, but I had to decide to leave the resort before she was found, trusting that she would be found and okay until TEC could get up to the resort to pick her up. What a crazy thought, but once again, I felt like things would be okay. Thankfully, I did hear that she had been found just as we were ready to pull away. TEC told me later that she had given him her side of this whole story: "I didn't see Mom, but I just followed Blue Dynamite all the way down." Hearing the way she handled what should have been a scary experience makes me even more sure that none of us faced any of it alone.
The end of the story, again thankfully, is that we did come out of this alright. The X-rays looked fine and, while TLC was a little sore, the worst we could complain about was the up-and-coming price tag attached to this day of skiing. I know that plenty of kids in stories like these do not have the happy ending we saw; I'm not sure why we were so blessed/so lucky. I am simply thankful and touched that we were.
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