My mom is the calmest person I know. When my brother was in a car wreck and his elbow went through the windshield, he came home from the emergency room all stitched up and showed the family his battle scar. He took off the gauze, crooked his elbow and blood started squirting against the dining room wall. My mom told him to join her in the bathroom where she cleaned him up, put fresh gauze on his wound and then finished eating her dinner like nothing happened. The rest of us sat in stunned silence watching the blood on the wall wondering if he was going to live through the nite.
I didn’t appreciate my mom’s demeanor until I was older, had kids and faced my share of stressful situations. It was her steadiness, especially in trying situations, that kept everyone calm and that in turn made us feel like everything was going to be o.k. I have done my best to follow in her footsteps, and though I’ll never be as good as she was, I hope I’m close.
Not everyone has such a mother and I realize I have been very lucky. Behold the offspring of an OverReactor. Oh dear is right.