Episode at Thackery Park

A picture is worth a thousand words... whew! I got that pedicure just in time!

So, besides being a part time Assistant Equestrian Coach at SMU and part time Campus Minister for VCM, I'm also a part time babysitter/tutor for a family with 3 small children. That's too many parts, I know. Believe me. Yesterday, I took aforementioned small children to Thackery Park. It was a lovely Friday afternoon so the park was FULL of children. I was doing my best to dodge the children on scooters, dogs on leashes and moms pushing strollers by sitting quietly under a tree with a book. It was delightful; the sun was shining, the kids were enjoying themselves and I was sitting in the dirt with my back against a tree. Just what I needed at the end of a hectic week. I do have three jobs, you know. A little R&R is quite the luxury.

All of a sudden, my reverie was disturbed by Ronak screaming to Tej, "Get her! Get her! I'm slipping!" I was too thorougly enjoying the warm sun to immediately realize that the "her" Ronak was referring to was me. I looked up to see Tej begin running the opposite direction from where I was sitting and Ronak struggling on the monkey bars. Ronak and I made eye contact and I could see the terror in his eyes. My motherly instinct immediately fired up and I sprang from my restful place in the dirt, hitting my head on a branch in the process. I stumbled forward and began a dead sprint toward the monkey bars. Ronak continued screaming, "Ms. Chelsea! Ms. Chelsea! I'm slipping!" As I bounded toward him, I yelled, "I'm coming, Ronak!" and then, all of a sudden, I felt the all too familiar feeling of my ankle rolling over in a hole in the grass. I fell to the ground, just as Ronak lost strength in his fingers and landed with a thud in the dirt.

My rescue attempt had completely failed. Ronak was in the dirt and I could barely walk. "Ronak, are you okay?" I asked, wincing. "Ms. Chelsea, are you okay?" Ronak asked as he brushed the dirt off his rear end. Tej arrived back just in time to find Ronak and I both on the verge of tears. "What happened?!" he asked... Ronak and I just looked at each other as we started back to the car, half laughing and half crying all the way. Tej followed us, completely dumbfounded.

We had had just about enough of the park for one day... and now, I'm laid up with a swollen ankle and a bag of ice. Dang that motherly instinct!

At least my brilliant husband is a brilliant engineer and he was able to lovingly rig this bag clip to hold in place the bags of ice that are perfectly incapsulating my hurt ankle... Thanks, baby. McGuyver's got nothing on you!