The Bench Won

Peyton had a little run-in with a wooden bench Sunday afternoon after LTC puppet practice. A boy was attempting to maneuver said bench out of a tight spot and Peyton was oblivious to his efforts. She was minding her own business and turned and WHAM! SMACK! I had just arrived from hosting a bridal shower to help coach the bulletin board event, so I had sunk down by the door and was resting my feet for a few minutes. I didn't see the accident, I didn't hear the accident . . . but Emily, our children's minister, was a front-row eyewitness. She heard the WHAM! and the SMACK! and saw blood, and the next thing I knew I was on my feet and trying to make sense out of the chaos that ensued.

Peyton has historically been my Stoic when it comes to injuries, but then she's never been hit in the mouth with a wooden bench while wearing braces, either. Needless to say, she was in a lot of pain and before we'd even made it to the restroom her upper lip was turning blue. The inside of her lip was shredded pretty well, which was also the source of the blood, and it just plain hurt. I have to confess I got a little tickled for a minute when she moaned, "Why did this have to happen the day before school?!" As though it would have been so much better to have been slapped in the mouth, say, on the way to church.

It was heartwarming to see the outpouring of concern by all the LTC kids, who had all been gathered in the room where the accident took place. I told Randy it reminded me of Pigpen, the character in Charlie Brown who has that ever-present dusty cloud that accompanies him wherever he goes. As I escorted Peyton to the restroom, this cloud followed along with us, and I must have heard, "Peyton, are you okay?" twenty times if I heard it once. All the boys courteously stopped at the door to the restroom while the girls followed us in like a herd of sheep, and they flocked around Peyton, trying to get a glimpse of her lip. One girl even had some wax (she's sporting new braces as well) and she gave Peyton a smidge to cover the bracket that her shredded lip was touching. And with that, the crisis was over.

That night, Peyton was surveying the damage in the mirror and she expressed concern over her bruised lip and what everyone at school would say. I assured her that the bruise was so microscopic that no one would even notice it unless she drew attention to it. And if she DID draw attention to it, I said, most would assume it was simply an ink smudge--and ink smudges are commonly seen on Peyton's face, I can assure you.

Monday afternoon, I was right on time to pick Peyton up from school (meaning it was exactly 3:15, the height of rushhour in the carpool line) and because the line of cars waiting to pick up students snaked out into the road, I whipped into the adjacent parking lot and opted to walk to the front of the school where the students were waiting for their parents. When I rounded the corner Peyton saw me, and she began gathering up her backpack and lunchbox. Her teacher saw me then, too, so she walked over to greet me and we exchanged pleasantries about our respective Spring Break activities. As I was talking I glanced at Peyton and said, "Oh my, her lip is REALLY blue now!" The bruise had tripled in size and was about the size of my thumb. Her teacher looked at me blankly for a moment, and then looked at Peyton more closely. I gave her the quick version of Sunday's accident and she said, "Oh no! I thought it was just an ink smudge!"

Ba-dum BUM!