"I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world"
Each time the words of this Louis Armstrong song play, my mind is flooded with the same memory. Hilary and I are in the car together. My fingers are fastened ever so tightly on the steering wheel. For a moment, tension creeps up my back& lifts my shoulders. My neck muscles feel strained as I rembember. Then the peaceful words wash over me. Louis' strong, deep voice evokes a calm.
Minutes earlier I'd been sitting on the front porch enjoying the warm, summer sun of August. Little 5 year old Hilary, was playing out back on the monkey bars. She appeared beside me, cradling her arm. Tears filled her eyes, and spilled down her rosy cheeks. She'd fallen and I suspected her arm was broken.
I don't know why I was so uptight. It wasn't as if I hadn't rushed to the emergency room before. Broken bones, poisoning, stitches...typical ER stuff. But this was my happy, little Hilary. She was the baby and her first trauma experience. She looked so sad.
I left the other kids home with their dad and off we went. Immediately, I snapped off the radio. The extra noise was an irritation. But Hilary protested to the silence. "Please turn some music on, it helps me not think about how bad my arm hurts." I looked over. Her brown eyes were red and pleading.
"Ok, what do you want to hear?" I expected her request to be one of her favorite Christian sing-along CD's. Nope, she wanted Louis, with his deep, raspy voice & strong, jazzy trumpet. I popped in the CD and out came "What A Wonderful World."
"I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world."
She calmed down almost immediately. As the song ended, I hit repeat and we listened again. It is a wonderful world.
I need to dig out my Louis Armstrong CD. Yes, for Hilary. She is 15. We are back in the car. This time, she is the driver and I am the passenger. We both need Mr. Armstrong's calming effect.
(Oh, and yes her arm was broken. It was her first, but not her only broken bone.)
3 comments:
Trips to the emergency room are never a good time, huh?! Been that route many times, especially with my now 16 yo son (he is the stitches king). My youngest child going to the ER was my now 8 year old, she cut her head open at 6 months??. My oldest daughter broke her elbow at 18 months.
It is my fault, I was the broken bone queen in my family!
Oh, BTW: I had heard that there were people like you out there, but pulease, can you keep it down... Saying out loud that you look forward to snow and COLD is bad, Bad, BAD!!! Snow is pretty, Cold is not good!!! :)
This is a beautiful, beautiful post. You communicated the bittersweetness of watching our children grow up and away. I really liked this post a lot.
Pam, you are so funny. Glad to know I'm not the only parent who spent a lot of time in the ER.
Linda, thanks for your kind words.
Post a Comment