On May 23, 2015, my 2-year-old daughter suffered a 2e advanced degree burn, her entire right forearm suffered burns. It was a silly kitchen accident, the type of accident we all fear: the pot of boiling water.
For several weeks we went to the hospital frequently, some parts of the skin were healed, some were not healing fast enough, it was the wait. Through it all, our princess stayed home, we juggled our schedules, our lives, and tried to give her a good time. Luckily, we are freelancers and the flexibility of our schedules allowed us to take care of her that way.
I was fascinated by his strength. A few hours after the accident, our daughter was quickly smiling again, wanting to go to the park and play despite the pain and the huge bandage on her arm. I wonder how many “big guys” would have had the same reaction? How many adults would go play in the park, laugh and already move on in their head? We grown-ups are too busy analyzing the why, thinking about the pain, thinking about the scar, the aftermath, the summer in long sleeves or the time thatit will take before you can exercise.
Focus
Our princess stayed happy. She thought of none of that. I even found myself analyzing my vacation, we can't do this, we can't do that, we have to cancel the trip to Maine. You know what? Who cares? The superficial consequences of what such an accident can have on our little lives as adults are sometimes ridiculous, often ridiculous. So I said to myself: we will simply cancel what we have to cancel and put our energies where it is necessary; about our daughter, about the love we have for her and about her healing.
I learn every day and the people who make me grow the most are my two daughters.
The little one by her detachment, her very simple ability to be happy and not dwell on details, to see that she is spending her days with mom and dad, that she goes to the park, that 'she eats and plays and everything she needs in life is near her. And my greatest by her child's heart as a young mature teenager who supported me during the accident, who held back her tears, who took on a big role, that of becoming a nurse, who thought of putting on several washcloths cold in the diaper bag for the road to the hospital, who knew how to answer the nurse's questions in the emergency room because I had a very painful baby in my arms.
The Present Moment
My daughters make me grow simply by their soul which is so pure, so beautiful, so true andgenuine.
I am a mother who gives a lot of freedom to her children, I trust them, I want them to learn to love themselves for who they really are and to know that everything is possible in life. I felt guilty for the accident for a moment, and sometimes the guilt comes back to me in small strokes… But for the first time in my life, I said NO to this emotion so devastating. Because what happened on May 23, 2015 is in the past. Because I can't change the past, I can just be better in the present and give my best to my girls, everyday, forever, in the moment.
This whole experience has made me see again how the present moment is the most beautiful, the most true and the most reassuring. My daughters are always in the present and thanks to them, I am more and more.
Life is beautiful
As for the seriously injured, the photo above was taken the day after the accident, look at that beautiful smile. I later learned that an operation was necessary, she received a skin graft for part of her wound which was not healing quickly enough. At the time, I projected myself again in the future, in what that implied in our lives, in my life, and I quickly stopped. I watched my smiling daughter singing Sur le pont d'Avignon in her car seat on the way home from Ste-Justine Hospital and I came back to the present, where life is beautiful, therewhere life is simple.
My daughter is he althy, she is happy. We had to go through this ordeal and we did it brilliantly while singing Sur le pont d'Avignon.
Julie xx
