The Tooth of the Matter

Life has been a bit hectic this past week, so please forgive how long it has taken me to relay this tale. Although...I was tempted to wait another week to write about it, but that's only because I like to use the word "fortnight".

A little over a week ago, Aydan was headed to his final day of the first week of school. Due to a drought, the drainage area between a dammed portion of Bear Creek and the bridge for Bear Creek Drive was dry. It's a big cement area that looks a little like this: \____/. Well apparently in the mind of an eleven-year-old boy THAT looks like a half-pipe. So since he had time before school started, Aydan dropped into the half-pipe for a little jump.

When he called me I was just dropping Brennan off at his school. The tears and the mention of pain and blood caused me to hurriedly shoo Brennan out the door and race home. I was a little angry, truth be told, that Aydan had messed around on the way to school and caused a minor injury which was now going to make both of us late. Fortunately I cooled off very quickly when I realized how serious it was.

Well first of all, his tooth was gone. The blood was pretty minor, so I wasn't worried about that. I was a bit concerned about what his smile would look like if the tooth couldn't be put back in, and, let's be honest, how much the dentist was going to cost. But the main thing that concerned me the fact that he couldn't remember where his bike was. Again, I got a little angry, because the boys will often conveniently "forget" things when they did something wrong, rather than confess that they messed up. When he asked me, "How did I get here?" though, I knew something was wrong. Pretty soon, he started asking, "Did you find my bike?" and when I had explained to him that I had not, he responded by asking, "Did you find my bike?"

So I knew he had a concussion. I called out athletic trainer at school to figure out what to do. After he calmed down and the pain had decreased, we went to get his bike (the front fork was bent away from the intended 90 degree position relative to the handlebars) and actually found his tooth as well. From the evidence, I pieced together that he did not pull up on the handlebars when he hit the upward wall of the drainage basin, and his tire stuck, he flipped over the handlebars and smacked his face into the cement wall.

He had a few minor scrapes and bumps. His canine tooth was knocked out, but thankfully it was a baby tooth. The concussion was a concern, but he recovered quickly and didn't have any dizziness or vomiting so we were less worried. Now, after a week of not being able to participate in recess, PE or football practice he is eager to go to the doctor to get cleared to play again.

And what can you say to all of this but, "Boys, eh?"