One of Those Parents....

Well, I've recently been learning a little about myself. Of course, God is teaching me this lesson through my oldest son Noah. A few weeks ago we were being stupid in the long run and running around the outside of the house in the dark after AWANA. For some reason Noah got a cramp, stumbled a bit, and his foot caught the edge of the driveway and went down, bracing himself with his left hand. Of course, he complained a bit about his arm hurting but we thought it was just the fall that got him. Well, after going to school the next day Traci got a call from the school and he was having problems with pain.

Thankfully, I work for 4 Orthopaedic Surgeons and Dr. Shine was willing to see Noah here in the office that afternoon. After an x-ray it was found that his wrist was broken, which I would have never guessed based on looking at his arm. (Dr. Shine says that is why we have the expensive equipment - which I understand!) So, Noah was casted and sent on his way.

The next week Noah was here for a checkup on the wrist and it was found that the cast alone wasn't enough and he needed surgery the next day. So, we rearranged our schedules and worked it out for family obligations to be taken care of while Noah had the surgery. Thankfully so far things are looking good and we'll find out tomorrow if a second surgery will be needed for pinning, or if it's healing on it's own.

Now, you may be asking what I have learned, other than the expensive x-ray equipment is much better than just looking at someone's arm. Well, I learned what it's like to be a parent of a child who plays sports and is injured. I've been here at Access Ortho 3 1/2 years and I've seen time and time again parents almost forcing the doctors to allow their kids to play their sport for this reason or that. I never understood what it was like to be the parent, always thinking that the long term health of the kid was worth more than that individual game.

Well, now I get the mindset of "those parents". You see, Noah has had a great year when it comes to sports. His team won the championship in baseball for their division, and at the time of the injury his team was tied for first in his soccer division as well. They were tied with the other top team and Noah was scoring a good number of goals and really striving to better himself at every game. He was a leader on his team often positioning other players while on the field and setting up others for goals when he couldn't get there himself. It was so much fun to watch. Then, with one fall all of that stopped for us.

You see, I was watching my oldest son take on a lot of responsibility and want to drive his team to first place. That is addictive, and his desire and enthusiasm was contagious for us as parents. So, when I heard that all of a sudden he can't play any sports for 6-8 weeks I think I was as hurt by that as Noah was/is. It's been hard as now we can't play catch with the football outside or baseball, soccer, etc. He still had the desire to go and root on his team and try to make his teammates better. He wanted to be there because he was a part of the team. Yet, it was hard for me to watch the games knowing that he had to sit on the sidelines. And now I wonder when/if he'll be able to play basketball this year.

So, in conclusion to what I learned, I've learned not to judge others as you don't know their motivations. I was never overly critical of "those parents" but wondered what drove them to the decision they were making. God has taught me through this what it's like to be in that same type of situation and now have the same feelings as those parents. I can't imagine what it would be like if my kids were being scouted by colleges when they were in High School, etc. I've learned that if you are not in someone else's shoes it's really going to be hard to totally relate to what is going on with their lives. I'm sure this lesson will help me to relate in other areas of my life as well.