Stitches for Laura!

On September 12, for a late birthday gift, Laura received 13 stitches in her knee. This photo is a couple of weeks after the fact. It's also blurry. You can imagine how gross it looked at the beginning.

The family had spent a very busy Friday, doing tons of things that seem to need to be done at that time of the year - school functions, sports activities, Laura's birthday, who knows what else. At the end of the day we were invited to a friend's house for a little party. We arrived late, probably 8:30, after dark. It was a damp night, dew was forming on the ground and grass, making shoes wet. We were at this house for the first time, so not familiar with the lay of the land. We showed up with drinks and eats, getting settled in. The kids are off playing with friends. Marcie and I had just sat down, not having time to enjoy our first taste, when Laura comes over to us, saying she fell to the ground and her knee is bleeding. Again, it's dark out, so we can't really see how the knee looks. We don't think it's too bad, because Laura is not screaming, carrying on about it hurting or making any kind of fuss. But, Marcie decides we should have a look at it in the light. Well, it was pretty bad. We had two cars at the party, so Marcie took Laura to the emergency room for treatment. She ended up having 13 stitches, a knee immobilizer and a bad attitude. She was signed up for soccer, she got to play 2-3 games and now she can't play the rest of the season.

Anyway, to give you an idea of how subdued the event was, after Marcie and Laura went to the emergency, both Vincent and Sophia came up to me at different times and asked where Mom was. I told them she took Laura to the emergency room for stitches. They both said "No she didn't. Where is she?" I had to take them to the front of the house to show them the car is gone. After they both surveyed the whole situation and realized that neither Mom nor Laura was there, they finally believed me. Apparently I must tell them tall tales too often.

Her knee is better now, but still kind of ugly. She is finally given clearance to participate fully in all activities. Hooray! Just in time for basketball!