On Saturday, Miriam and I rode our bikes to the park. That's what we call it, but it's actually me, on a bike, pulling Miriam in her bike trailer.
I usually take a book along with me to the park to read while she plays. I would listen to music on headphones, too, if I didn't think that would just be too much for the other parents. Sometimes I feel like everyone there is judging me for sitting by and reading (and ahhhh...listening to music if only I could) when I could be engaged with my little one. If anyone ever has the guts to bring it up with me, I will tell them that I get plenty of quality time with Miriam at home, being the wife of a PhD student who has his comp exams NEXT MONTH and all. So they can just have fun with their kids and I'll get my 15-minute breath of fresh air.
Anyway, while we were at the eerily named Children's Memorial Park, a 5-year-old girl the next swing over fell off and did a face plant in the sand. Her mom picked her up and ran her over to the drinking fountain/bathroom area, but not quick enough for the girl's older brothers not to see that there was blood streaming down her face from a nasty mouth wound.
The two brothers immediately announced in loud, excited voices: "There is BLOOD all over her FACE!!!!" and within about 10 seconds, every kid in that park had run over to the bathroom area to get a look at the poor girl.
Meanwhile, her mom was doing her best to clean up the screaming girl under less than ideal circumstances. Basically, she was trying to wash her face and stop the bleeding with the girl's shirt, which she was simultaneously trying to remove from her frantic child. All this while a big group of kids stood around and watched, providing plenty of grossed-out commentary.
Eventually, everyone settled down, the crowd dispersed, and that family went home. But the incident was not easily forgotten by the kids at the park. A good 20 minutes later, some little girls came up to me and asked if I'd seen "the bloody girl."
That poor mom. There are moments in motherhood where you just wish you could be invisible, and I think that was definitely one of them.