Last night I texted Tony to check on Dotty. He said she was great but that she had not moved her left arm in several hours. Apparently Tony had lifted her up at some point and she had claimed her arm hurt.
Being the good mother that I am, I told Tony to try to trick her into using it. For example, get her to play catch or something. Being the good father that he is...he had already thought of that, tried it, and it had not worked. She is a smart girl and was not to be fooled.
I told Tony we should wait until morning and if she was still saying her arm hurt and was still refusing to use it we might need to go into Clinic Care.
So this morning I texted Tony again to see how Dot and her arm were doing. She had made a miraculous recovery over night. Once again proving that time, does in fact, heal all wounds.
Lately, Dotty has been wanting band aids and ice packs for all kinds of "hurts". Many times the band aids are taken off within the hour and the ice pack usually gets left behind to melt on the floor.
I think it is funny how in life when we are young we look for scrapes, bumps, and bruises in an effort to get love, attention, and (if we are lucky) a princess band aid. Yet as we get older we learn to hide or ignore our hurts, bumps, bruises, and all kinds of pain...both physical and emotional.
When Dotty falls I have to be careful to not immediately say "you are okay...get up and dust yourself off". I have to remember to actual check first to make sure she is okay and then help her to dust herself off.
Too often in life I myself have suffered some real hurt that I have simply told myself that I am okay and dusted myself off and gone on my way without really looking at the hurt or helping it to heal.
I don't want to raise a child that is a whiner or who cries at the drop off a hat. I want Dotty to be strong and brave. But I also want her to know that in life there is pain. And it is okay to hurt. And if we let ourselves hurt then we are also letting ourselves heal.
When we work out at the gym together, Jeri tells me "pain is progress" (or something like that) and I know that in order to grow bigger and stronger muscles I will have to endure some pain. I think that is true about one of the most important muscles in our body...the heart. In order for it to grow bigger and stronger we must let it feel pain.
I want Dotty to some day know that my heart has been chipped and broken many times in my life and will no doubt be chipped and broken many more times in the future. However, time does heal all wounds. And each day that I allow my heart to heal is a day that it grows bigger and stronger. No princess band aid required.
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