I've already shared this photo just about everywhere I can share it, but you know what? When your kid makes you breakfast, you tell the world.
MY KID MADE ME BREAKFAST.
BY HERSELF.
ON PURPOSE.
It happened the day that Sandy managed to do a whole lot of nothing here in Pittsburgh, which was a huge blessing no matter how you look at it. School was canceled just in case. I could go on and on about how back in my day we went to school no matter the weather and we walked through ten feet of snow uphill both ways (which, seriously, we did -- it's so windy in North Dakota that it is absolutely possible that you walk uphill one way and back uphill to go back because the snow has suddenly drifted in a new way). I won't go on and on about it, though. I would never, ever want to be that person who has to make the school delay/cancellation decision. Can you imagine deciding that school should go on as usual and then having a student die in a tragic car accident on the way there? Unfathomable.
I'll stick to having to juggle schedules and working at home so that kids everywhere can stay home and be safe, thank you very much.
On the day that Sandy did nothing, I spent the morning with my head buried in a laptop trying to finish some documents before a deadline while Alexis entertained herself. She could have watched TV or played with toys, but instead she chose to make me breakfast. She washed some raspberries and poured out some chocolate pudding and she sliced some bananas for me.
She sliced some bananas for me.
With a knife.
By herself.
Without me realizing what she was doing.
Obviously, nothing bad happened, but the moment that it dawned on me that she had pulled a knife out of the drawer and used it without supervision was a scary one. I had no idea she could reach the knives now, which was sort of irrelevant considering I was sitting ten feet away but had no idea she was using a knife.
So many bad things could have happened. They didn't, but they could have.
It only takes a second for the worst to happen. Every day I'm grateful that we made it one more day without living that reality ourselves.
This is where I get up on my soapbox and I ask y'all a favor. Could we please extend a little empathy when things like this happen? It was a horrible accident and there are no winners. No matter how much blame is thrown around and no matter how many excuses we make for why that could never happen to us because we are so much more careful than that mother, there is but one truth.
It could happen to any of us.
It's terrifying, but it's true. All it takes is to get lost in a fog of important work while our kids are in the kitchen grabbing knives. It can happen because we boil water on the front burner of the stove. It can happen whether we are watching them closely or look away for a second. Terrible things happen just walking down a sidewalk, while in the care of someone we trust ... anywhere.
Everywhere.
Recognizing that the worst can happen to any of us is the only way we can support and look out for one another. It's really all we can do as we teach our kids to be independent people who will some day change the world for the better.
Just as soon as they're done making us breakfast, that is.