Last night, Mara took a spill in the living room and hit her forehead on the piano bench, which knocked her into next month. Now, Mara is almost 8-years-old, so she’s a big kid and has learned to take dings, scratches and cuts. But this was one of those falls that created a loud boom. And then there was a split second of silence as everyone tried to figure out what heavy thing fell off the wall and smashed onto the ground. And then Mara let loose one of those blood-curdling screams. That sound that every parent fears. The shriek of true pain and helplessness.
It took a lot of consoling, snuggling and ice to recover from this trauma. Mara’s okay. She has a lump on her forehead and had a bit of a headache last night. It was a very traumatic experience for everyone in the house. Especially for Mara. She was in a lot of pain.
Mara and I have been making beef jerky this week and I’ve been running the dehydrator in the garage to keep the house from smelling like smoked meat. I put a batch in the dehydrator yesterday evening, which meant I had to wake up at 2 a.m. to turn it off. I passed Mara’s room on my way to the garage and as I did, I heard Blue’s dog tags jingle.
She was asleep on the floor next to Mara, who was asleep in her bed.
Every night Blue sleeps on the floor next to Elise’s side of the bed. That’s her spot. It doesn’t change. Every single night, that’s where she sleeps. Always.
Blue saw what happened to Mara last night. She left her usual dutiful post on the floor next to Elise to spend the night on guard for Mara. She knew Mara had hurt herself and wanted to make sure that she was okay through the night.