Five Stitches

 There are times I feel extremely overwhelmed by everything I feel I “need” to do when it comes to my children, and when I actually accomplish everything I set out to do I secretly embrace the title of Super Mom. But when things happen that throw the whole Super Mom image into a swirl it can almost be earth shattering.

My middle child, who is my only son, recently had his first major incident resulting in a trip to the ER. After stumbling over his feet (something that happens quite often to my little klutz child), my son whacked his head on a display case at the store and gave himself about an inch long gash on his forehead. I don’t handle blood well, especially when it’s a lot of blood, and instead of jumping into my Super Mom persona I fell into the freaked out mom that only made matters worse by freaking out the other children. Thankfully my sister was there to pick up my slack. Without hesitation she had my son up in her arms and rushed him to the restroom, where she proceeded to clean up his wound and get it bandaged. Even after the blood was cleaned up, my stomach churned with queasiness. My two-year-old son had to ask for me before I could bring myself to come to his side. 

Once at the ER I was by my little mister's side, even through the part when he was getting his stitches (though I couldn't watch). But in my mind it still wasn't enough, since the main trauma had already happened.

That day still haunts me, not because of the blood or the stitches or the ER, but because I failed my son by not being HIS Super Mom.

I know that we are not always perfect parents, and it’s our continual striving to be perfect that makes us good moms and dad, but that moment of weakness has greatly humbled me as a mom. I just hope that next time my super hero signal flashes I am better able to answer the call.