A Blow To The Head

Theme song: Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Last week brought an end-of-the-year concussion to my little boy and, by extension, the rest of our two-household family.

Let me tell you: Here at Single Mom Central, things run on a dime.

By this I mean we have little wriggle room for chaos and catastrophe.

The Good News

The good news is, it looks like my little beast will be just fine.

His physician told us, though, that he should be "careful" now that he's had one concussion. Yeah, right.

Abstract care of the brain just don't mean much to a 9 year-old. Nor, I suppose, should it.

Those who know me know that potential and actual threats of harm -- as well as actually dizzy, vomiting 9 year-olds with head pain -- sink their teeth and claws into my gut and throat and shake me as much as the next parent.

The event even shook up his older brother.

I figured that out when he kept repeating that I was "spoiling" Jonjo and there was "nothing wrong with him."

The light bulb went off in my head and I asked, "Did you get scared?"

Pause.

"Yeah."

Pause.

"But that doesn't mean he can't do chores."

Ah, brotherly love.

Brain Rest

There's no point, really, in hashing through the details of monitoring a 9 year-old on "brain rest."

But I'll just ask: Can you say, "Jumping like a cricket"?

I will say, though, that single parenting offers several unique and amazing opportunities.

They include:

• Visceral fear for someone's life
• Urges to tie people up and put them in closets and
• Garden variety anxiety about missing client deadlines and thus losing income

Hey -- this post isn't about gratitude so I am not going to say how truly flippin' grateful I am that the fuzzy-headed cutie pie appears to be just fine.

And it squeezes my heart to say that if something happened to my little boy, I really don't know how I would live through it.

This year, then, is the year that ended with a bang and not a whimper. So there, Mr. Eliot.

Your Turn

Any favorite concussion stories or other words of encouragement for our little brain rester? Please share!