The great fall of 2020

I was pulling into a thrift store and my phone rang. Up to this point my day had been great. I got to have lunch with an old friend. I test drove a car all by myself. My hair was cooperating and my eyebrows were on point. I was probably even listening to some station that reminds me of being 19, I do that a lot lately.

It was Karen on the other end. Karen is my moms friend. They may have started out as neighbors, but they are definitely friends. “Hey Jen, I’ve got your mom here. She took quite a tumble down the stairs and I think she should go to the urgent care”. Falling for my mom is not foreign. Not even a little. But usually it’s not down a flight of stairs. So I did what any unsure person would do, and I called my husband. His reaction seemed extreme but he was right. “Honey, call an ambulance. With her history you can’t move her. You could do more damage”. So there I was “911 what’s your emergency”

Karen stayed with mom and kept her alert. I may have pushed that mini van to the limit but I ended up beating the first responders and the ambulance. I walked in the door and there she was, laying at the bottom of the stairs. At first glance her face looked a little rough but everything else looked intact. Then she took the ice off her head. SWEET BABY JESUS what in the hell was that?!?! I was later told the correct term is a hematoma not WTF. I tried not to show shock or fear but it was huge. Like nothing I’ve seen before and I have an accident prone 13 year old boy. The sound of sirens have never sounded so sweet.

As always the first responders were amazing. I wish I only encountered them on celebratory occasions but again, I have a 13 year old boy. Kyle actually brings a lot of calmness to these kind of situations because his voice relays a sense of knowledge and charge. He doesn’t fumble or flinch. He knows exactly what he’s doing and he talks to you the whole time. I’m so incredibly thankful for Kyle and his partner. They helped load her up in the ambulance and there she was, my incredible mom looking so helpless it would have taken the wind out of you.