Why Grannies shouldn't skate

I've been away from the computer for few days, so I feel very "out of the loop." I've had good reason to be away, though....

I mentioned in my last post how we have several family birthdays in March. Along with birthdays come birthday parties. One particular party that I was looking forward to was my niece's roller skating party. Only girls were invited-which added to the element of fun as my daughter and I got to have some mother/daughter bonding time in addition to hanging out with a bunch of fun girls at the roller rink.

As the party started, the girls were off. Some were graceful as swans, and some were a little less coordinated. My daughter unfortunately was one of the latter. She actually did better when skating with one of the other grown ups instead of myself. For some reason we were just a bad combination-and before you knew it she'd be "scissoring" her legs, but going nowhere (or worse, falling on her tushy). My mother, however, was skating so gracefully around the rink that I almost felt envious (where did she get all that balance?).

Other than having some minor falls (mostly done by my gal), things were going pretty well. The skaters were going around for one last song before it was time to take a pizza break. My girl was actually going around the wall on her own, and I was enjoying skating alongside my sister and talking about how well the party was going. That's when we noticed our mother on the ground. She just had this look on her face that told us that things were not good. It was decided right away that I would take her to the hospital-my sister needed to stay until her daughter's party was over (I'm so glad that her sister-in-law was in town and able to be at the party to help her!)

My mother held her arm close to her the whole time we went through the proper procedures at the hospital (don't get me started on that). When it came time to actually look at her arm (her sleeve was covering it up) I got to see something I hope I never see again. Officially it was called a Colle's fracture. All I know is arms are not supposed to be "S" shaped-it's not natural!

So, I have been taking shifts with my sister for the past couple of days to care for my VERY independent mother. Let me tell you, it's not always easy taking care of a strong willed woman that thinks she should be able to do certain things herself. The icing on the cake was this morning when I had to leave her shortly to get my daughter to school-my mother took a bath with no one in the house. But, no harm was done, and I understand that this is hard for her.

What I have learned from this experience is: First, my mother is not indestructible (as much as I hate to admit it). Second, my mother is one of the bravest people I know (she faced some VERY severe pain with such grace it's astonishing). Third, my mother is NOT two years old (something my husband felt he needed to point out to me, as I may have been using some of the care I usually apply to our little guy towards my mom). Fourth, I am a lot stronger than I gave myself credit for (I even helped a nurse hold a splint in place on my moms mangled arm so she could wrap it up-something even my sister, usually the strong one, couldn't do).

Finally, when my granddaughter has a rollerskating party, I don't need to be the "cool" grandma. I can just keep on my tennies and walk the rink like all the other grandparents, because Grannies shouldn't skate.