A Stitch in Time...or Two in the Chin...

No, don't worry, my headline isn't about my new love of skateboarding.
But it is about Aidan's.
* * *
Saturday was one of those weird, surreal days when life unfolds in an alternate universe.
I woke up crabby.
So Brian sent me and Aidan skateboarding, to try to undo my bad mood.
This worked amazingly. Aidan and I skated from my work to downtown and had lunch together outside, amid the sun.
We were Rather Happy.
* * *
And then suddenly Aidan was on the ground, yelling...
And the skateboards were flying everywhere as I jumped off mine and ran to him...
I held him in my arms while he assessed the Damage.
Apparently, he decided it would be fun to ride the skateboard on his knees instead of standing on it.
And then he pitched over the top and went ker-splat right against the sidewalk.
* * *
I wasn't alarmed at first. The fall didn't look all that bad. There was little blood.
I was optimistic that we'd be on our way soon.
But a closer look at his chin uncovered the fact that a large chunk of his chin was simply missing.
As in gone.
There wasn't much blood, but a too-big chunk was just Not There.
* * *
Being car-less and cell-phone-less, we started walking to the hospital.
I tried to keep his spirits up.
"Oh no, it's not bad," I said. "Just gotta get a doctor check it out and bandage it up."
Aidan trailed behind me, holding his shirt against his chin.
"Let's go, gotta go," I kept saying, moving us along.
I had both skateboards and all our gear while Aidan followed, shirt on chin.
* * *
Finally, I stopped again to reassess. I thought maybe we could go home, but then when I looked again, the chunk out of his chin showed me that the abrasion was pretty deep.
At that point, I made a decision to flag down a car and soon we were inside Brandon's car, on our way to the hospital.
Brandon was on the university soccer team. Aidan was not hurt enough to be impressed. Majorly impressed. Brandon told Aidan that middle is the "playman," the "dreamperson" of the team. Aidan was happy because he thinks Middle is Where it is At.
* * *
Inside the hospital, the admitting nurse tried to sell me a half pipe.
Seriously.
I had to say no a couple of times.
"No really I can sell you one; I have one at home..."
* * *
The doctor was great and really helped Aidan to feel better about having to get stitches.
He acted as if it were No Big Deal. I tried to follow his lead.
* * *
The nurse came in and helped Aidan to hold the numbing medicine against his chin.
To make small talk and make Aidan feel better, we started taking a Stitches Poll.
Have you ever had stitches? I asked the nurse.
Actually several times, the nurse, who was in the Armed Services, told us.
The worst time was when a metal pole went through his foot and stapled his foot to the ground. If they took out the pole, the nurse would have bled to death.
So they sawed off the pole and transported him to the hospital.
Whoa, talk about Putting Things in Perspective.
* * *
The stitches went fine. Aidan was scared, but I held my hand over his eyes so he couldn't see. Once the first stitch was in, all was well. When Aidan realized that the whole process really would not hurt, he relaxed, even laughed a little.
* * *
That night, lying in bed, Aidan told me that it had not been a Good Day. The end wasn't so bad, he said, as he drifted off to sleep.
Indeed, I thought, drawing my arms around him closer.
As for us, we're looking at the university soccer schedule. Because we have some cookies to deliver. Because we have to see Brandon play forward.