He’s 14 now. Hardly a baby. But to me I feel all the hurts the same as I did when my kids were young. See an injury and I get the tingling weakness in my knees and legs. 

He doesn’t need me as much anymore but he called me twice the other evening   – once to tell me he fell at soccer practice and hurt his arm and would I come to get him and the second when I was on my way to make sure I didn’t forget him. (Sorry officer I had to use my phone while driving my kid is hurt). Forget him? I don’t think I’ve ever forgotten him anywhere ever.  

At the urgent care I asked him if he wanted me walk with him to the X-ray room. He said “if you want”. His way of saying yes. 

We worked on pain management with some snack wraps and a vanilla shake. It helped some but when he winced bc he moved it wrong those knees of mine got weak. I don’t make a big deal and I don’t hover but inside I want to make the hurt go away. 

Today we had to wait until late to get his arm set bc I had an appt that went 2 hours over making us miss our original appt at the orthopedic. So I felt bad he had to wait so long. He dealt with it well but I knew he was anxious to get there bc he kept asking when we had to go.  

At the orthopedic he got to pick his cast color and that’s still cool to him at  14.  The doc told him he still had quite a bit of growing to do. He was pretty excited about that as his goal is to be 6ft tall. 

He was in some discomfort after the casting and I had my go to fixes -ibuprofen and food. Somehow I feel like the offering of food will cure the pain at least for a while. And maybe it did. He chose grill cheese and fries. Comfort for sure. 

He’s going to to be fine. He’s already thinking of more exciting stories to tell his friends about how he got the break. I guess a soccer injury isn’t too exciting. Maybe he just wants to razz them a bit like boys do. He tried to get another day off of school but as much as I wanted to let him stay home and hang out  (with me) I know it’s better for him to get back to school and not miss too much school work. I sent him in with Advil. He will be glad to be back even if he has some discomfort today. He will be with his buddies. I can just hear the jokes now.  

It’s hard to watch your child have pain -physical or emotional. When my child hurts their pain seeps into me. No matter how old they are you want to take the away pain. I know it’s that way for my mother as well-and I’m 51. 

Right now my 14 year old doesn’t need  me as much as he used to. That’s ok -it’s how it’s supposed to be. But I suspect we will always need each other in some way. We will always be connnected by the thread of love. I often hear my own husband talk to his now 90 year old mom and I hear the child in him. It’s a beautiful testament to the love that helped him grow, soothed his hurts and then let him go live his life. The connection is always there. 

My kids are still young enough so i have some time to grow the connections and to help fix the hurts. So bring on the hugs, the Advil, and the milk shakes and French fries. Oh and the grilled cheese  

Thanks for reading.