Not Just A Community…A Family

I promised I would write about the reason I didn’t write anything on Thursday.  Wow.  That was a horrible sentence and I know it.  Just go with it.  (And I know I didn’t write yesterday either, but that’s beside the point.  I was at a LIFE Seminar yesterday and it was awesome!!!).

ANYWAY…

I did not write on Thursday because of the following story.  Most of you already know about this, but I’m going to tell it anyway because I made an observation about something I sometimes take for granted – an important observation.  And I do have Rosie’s permission to tell this story, just so ya’ll know.

Here it goes…

It was Wednesday night, and I was finishing up some things on my computer for the day.  My mom had prepared my sister for Awana, a youth group thing she goes to during the school year, because it was the first night.  I was to take her to this event because it was family night, and my family was ironically unable to attend. 😀  So I loaded her into the car and off we went.  The first part of the evening went relatively well: we listened to the orientation presentation, got a calendar for the year, and got Rose’s new Awana shirt for 3rd grade.

Okay…so at this family event, they had root beer floats, a rock wall, a gym where you could play dodge ball inside, and a soccer field and playground outside.  After about half an hour, I got bored.  I wanted to go home (I feel so incredibly selfish as I write this.  This was Rose’s night to hang with her friends and I was worried about my entertainment).  Rosie on the other hand, really did not want to leave so I did what any good babysitter does: I gave her the ten minute warning.  Surprisingly (sarcastic font heavily applied), the eight (soon to be nine) year old did not jump for joy at my words.  Ten minutes later, I decided to let her go outside and play soccer, giving her yet another ten minute warning.  After the ten minutes, I went to fetch Rose from the soccer field, but to my dismay, she decided she wanted to play on the playground instead of going home.

Impatiently, I waited for her on the asphalt about ten feet from the perimeter of the playground.  Rose was about one hundred feet away from me across the playground.

Suddenly, I heard a terrified scream that turned into multiple terrified screams.

The next half hour isn’t super clear in my head anymore…I can’t remember a lot of the smallish details…but it went something like this.

I stood there for a few seconds, wondering where the screaming was coming from.  Eventually, I looked over and to my horror, saw Rose on her knees, with a look of extreme terror on her face, screaming.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been through it three times myself before I was her age….I don’t know.

But somehow I instantly knew – she broke her arm.

Quickly, I jogged over to where Rose was (and at this point I’m not exactly sure if she’s ACTUALLY broken anything), and I got about ten feet away when I saw her arm.  She had gotten herself to the grass and she was still on her knees, but my eyes instantly locked on her arm – specifically her elbow – and the biggest wave of sheer panic I’ve ever experienced washed over me.  The bone that was supposed to be attached to her elbow was poking the skin in her bicep (it didn’t poke through the skin, but it looked like it was about to), and I instantly turned away.  That was the instant it hit me – my baby sister had broken her arm and it was bad.  No question about it.

Instantly I walked the other direction and started pacing about twenty feet away from Rose, trying to call my mom.  I started to hyperventilate as I realized how bad this was.  It’s the most terrified I have ever been in my entire life (so much as I can remember).  It felt like a really bad dream, except I KNEW it was real.  Shaking, the panic began to surge through my body as frantically tried to call my mom or my dad in an area with very little cell reception.  I looked back and there were about three adults with Rose by this time and someone had called 911.  I’m not kidding when I say I was freaking out and crying so hard.  I was terrified.  My sister’s arm looked so scary, and nothing like that had ever happened to this little girl before.  Plus, it had been on my watch and my parents weren’t here.  Finally I get a hold of my mom and through sobs, told her that Rose broke her arm.  Somebody from the Awana group came over and took the phone from me to talk to my mom.  And then he hugged me.  I had no idea (and still don’t) who this guy was, but I didn’t care.  He hugged me, told me everything was going to be okay, and talked to my mom.  So many people were there, hugging me, reassuring me, making sure I was okay and making sure Rose was okay for me.  Honestly, I don’t know if I could have made it through without them.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the ambulance showed up and loaded Rose into it.  I pulled myself together enough to go with.  Apparently, Rose had gone into shock and hadn’t been crying since I’d started calling mom.  The short ride to the hospital seemed like forever, but we finally got to the hospital where my parents had been waiting for the last ten minutes.

Meanwhile, I’m texting and emailing some of my friends to pray for my sister to be okay and for me to have peace and be calm.  The director of Awana even showed up at the ER to make sure Rose was going to be okay.  That was just incredibly wonderful and I am so thankful.  I can’t even describe how AMAZING it was to have so many people actually CARE and express so much concern.  Because every time I heard her scream when they moved her arm, I shuddered uncontrollably and trembled the whole night long until I finally went to sleep at 3:30 AM.

Long story short, after surgery the next day, two or three pins, and a cast, Rosie came out all right.  But I know for sure I would NEVER have made it through without all my friends and family praying for me and continually asking me if I was okay, and all the people that helped with Rose and visited, helped, and made sure she was okay.  The next day was Rosie’s first day of co-op, and she missed it.  But all of her friends from co-op signed a card for her and delivered it a few days later along with candy and gifts 🙂

Lesson 6: Find and surround yourself with true, GOLDEN friends.

True friends are with you when you go through heart break.  True friends are there for you when you need comfort and prayer.  Golden friends stay calm and reassuring when you are completely freaking out.  These people were strangers to me, but we are all part of God’s family and it totally showed.  Golden friends have the love of Christ in them and they genuinely care for you.

I really hope you have those kind of people in your life.  I can’t even imagine going through life without them.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I beg you to find out.

Until next time,

Hope Frances