Sitting On My Lap...

To make a long story short, on Sunday morning, Jonathan fainted. Scared the living daylights out of me!

On Saturday, helping us slice potatoes for a "new recipe" he cut the pad of his thumb on the mandolin slicer...and proceeded to "disengage" the flap that remained. So, he was left with a bit of a chunk of thumb missing...not too horrible, and we did not take him for stitches or anything. It's healing nicely. He's fine.

Warren and I went to a dinner party on Saturday night. When we got home, I asked Jonathan what he'd had to eat. He said, "Oh, I just had a couple of granola bars...I didn't feel like fixing anything else." (We had left him with numerous options for easy-to-fix meals. I was a little upset, but sent him to bed. After all, we had a big day as tomorrow was Sunday!

Sunday morning, I woke Jonathan up and told him to get showered and dressed and come on downstairs and get some breakfast. A little while later he came into the kitchen and said, "Mom, my thumb really hurts!" I took a look at it (he'd removed the bandage after showering) and told him to come with me to the bathroom so we could put a fresh bandage on it.

While my head was inside the closet, searching for the perfect bandage, Jonathan was behind me...feeling faint...reaching for the edge of the sink, but thinking he needed to get to the living room and sit down. I heard a scuffling noise and backed out of the closet. To my utter shock, Jonathan was lying in the middle of the floor outside the bathroom. Flat on his back. In his underwear.

I didn't freak out. I could see that he was conscious and okay. He'd bumped his head on the way down, but nothing horrible. First, I called Warren. I was afraid to try to move Jonathan because i didn't know how steady he'd be on his feet. Of course, Warren did not answer his phone! So I dialed the church. Deacon Jane answered, "St. Luke's!" and I said, "This is Mary. Please tell Warren he needs to come home!" Warren was here in a flash...by this time the reality had set in with me and I was a little beside myself. Poor Jonathan was lying on the floor - in his underwear - and a little tear was creeping down the side of his face. He was scared, too. It broke my heart to see him crying.

Warren helped me get him up and into the living room. He sat and held Jonathan for several minutes. Jonathan cried. Warren and I traded seats. Jonathan kept crying. It was obvious that he was okay - he knew his name, the date, etc. Warren fixed him a PBJ and made sure I was okay with him going back to church. I was, and so was Jonathan. 

After Warren left I said to Jonathan, "If crying is what you need to do to feel better, then you just keep crying until you feel better." And he did. And he sat on my lap and let me hold him and catch his tears on my shoulder. And it was so beautiful.

And it reminded me about how wonderful and blessed it is to be a mother. And it reminded me of times when I was perhaps Jonathan's age and scared or sad, but wasn't encouraged to show my emotions. And that made me cry, too. Life is not worth living with feelings unacknowledged. I speak from lots of experience! I'm so happy to have a son who is not afraid of his emotions, even at the age of 15. What a precious boy.

And what a lucky mom I am...that he was willing to sit on my lap and let me snuggle him in blankets and hold him and he never shied away from any comfort I offered. It only took a few minutes, but it was blessed. A long lasting memory. Beautiful.

Jonathan is fine! Everything is back to normal...whatever that is! I am such a lucky mom to have a wonderful family! God is good, and thank God everything is okay and this was just a "fluke" event.

Next time we go to a dinner party, I will be sure to leave dinner in the oven for our boy. As much as I enjoyed holding him on my lap, I'm not anxious for another morning like that for a long time.

Thank you God, for little favors...unexpected...beautiful.