I feel like by the time we got to May we were all getting a little stir crazy. Luckily for us, the weather was nice and we had visitors. Kort and Dan drove here from Denver to spend Mother's day with us and to spend time swimming. And they brought Max, which thrilled Emmie. Everything was still shut down, but businesses were starting to reopen with restrictions. Masks weren't required by the government, but many businesses were requiring them if you wanted to enter. At this point in time it still felt weird to wear a mask in public. I would guess that only about half of people were wearing them. The mask mandate for the county didn't come until later in the summer.
The kids started doing a bit more with friends as well. Emmie, Elsie, and Susie got together a few times. It was so fun to watch them hangout with each other again. On the day of the picture below I had taken the kids to Nordstrom Rack for an incredible shoe sale. Apparently I'll risk getting covid for a killer deal on Birkenstocks and Chacos! My plan was to get in the store early, get our shoes, and get out before there were too many people. My plan was foiled however. When we were about done shopping we noticed the line. It wrapped around nearly the whole store! At this point we had worked too hard for our shoes, so we decided to stick it out. we waited forever. Emmie was stressed because Susie and Elsie were supposed to be coming to our house for a playdate and we were most definitely going to be late. After calling their mothers to move the playdate back an hour we finally made it to the car...and the car didn't start! My battery had died! John left work early and met us to jump the battery. We then drove to an autoparts store where they confirmed that the battery was dead, but wouldn't help us replace it. We ended up at the dealership to get a new battery installed. But Emmie still got her playdate! It was just a few hours late. But they still managed to make this phenomenal cake, and we didn't get covid, and we got a killer deal on tons of shoes, so in the end I guess it all worked out.
The most memorable day in May was memorial day. We started the day with a hike up to stack rock. It is and 8 mile hike up near Bogus Basin. John was on call and Ainsley didn't want to come, so it ended up being a hike with Owen, Emmie, myself, and half of the Demars family. John offered to smoke us some meat for a BBQ that evening. So after a long day of hiking, we all came home and showered and cooked and then gathered again that night for a BBQ and Yard games.
I still don't like to think about what could have happened that night. Owen and a few of the kids decided to jump off the roof onto the trampoline. When Owen asked me I said no. But he went to John and told him that I said it was Okay if he thought it was okay. So John went along. My kids had done it earlier that week but there were fewer kids and more supervision. All was going fine until the first casualty. Emmie jumped and hit her head to her knee when she landed. She came inside to me and I was helping her when I heard someone scream "OWEN!"
We have pieced together that Owen told his friend to give him a double bounce when he jumped off and Owen's plan was to jump and then do a flip. He had successfully done it several times, but the double bounce was too much and he lost control. He flew backward and as far as we can tell he hit the back of his head on the bar of the trampoline and landed on all fours in my flower bed. It truly was a miracle he survived. He fell in between the house and the trampoline. He narrowly missed the house, and the cement that could have done permanent damage.
John came in frantically telling me to get a towel for all the blood. I had no idea what was going on because I had been focusing on Emmie and hadn't seen anything. Brandt was helping get Owen to the car. Owen was in shock and struggled walking. John drove to the hospital while I sat in the back and held a towel to Owen's head catching all the blood.
When we got to the hospital they wouldn't let John and I both in because of Covid. So John left Owen and I there. I had nothing, no keys, no car, no phone, and Owen didn't even have shoes. The emergency room staff tried to keep us calm and the mood light and they all shared their battle wounds from jumping off things they shouldn't have jumped off of. Owen got 12 staples in his head. And his knee was fractured. We were finally discharged and John came to get us several hours later. We got home at about 11:00 that night. That was when the realization of how horrible things could have been hit and I lost control of my emotions. All of the what-if's clouded my mind and I couldn't hold back the tears. Owen was home and safe and would be okay, but I couldn't help but feel guilty for allowing any of it to happen in the first place.
The next several days and weeks were long. Owen couldn't get up and down stairs so he slept on an air mattress in the family room for days. His friend Logan (that had been on the trampoline when it all happened) was traumatized by the whole situation, but was such a good friend to Owen. He came to visit constantly to keep Owen company. He helped keep Owen sane. After a week we were able to get the staples out of his head. His doctor had monitored his concussion and he seemed to be recovering from that as well. We had to visit and orthopedic surgeon for his knee. An MRI revealed that his knee was fractured but he hadn't torn any ligaments, which was a relief. Surprisingly he was off of crutches within less than a week and was just left with a brace and physical therapy. His knee recovery took the longest. If I'm remembering correctly he was still doing physical therapy in July.
And now as I write this in January, Owen is fully recovered. He and Logan ran 6 miles tonight. Although it was a traumatizing time (probably mostly for me) it was also a miracle and I will always be grateful that the situation wasn't any worse.
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