Soul Highway

Son, today is the day you get hurt.

At what point in your son's life do you start to "let him go?" Well, the husband decided that yesterday was the day. Re'Sean has been riding his skateboard (a gift on his 10th birthday) for almost a year now and he claims to have improved his skills. On Sunday, he decided he was ready to play with the big boys. That means going to a public skateboarding park down Duke Street where they could work on "real" ramps. His friend's mother offered to chaperone the boys.

I felt we (husband and I) needed to be there. "For what?" Kevin replied. Umm... in case he gets hurt? "And then what?" Fathers have their way of things. After some strong admonitions on wearing a helmet at all times and behaving well, the husband sent Re'Sean out to the world of scraped knees and broken elbows. His (Re'Sean's) job was to come home in one piece.

And he did, about an hour and a half later, plus a busted lip. There were traces of blood all over his shirt and shorts. Turned out he rode down a ramp, fell and cut his lip with the side of the ramp. We made a quick inventory - no missing teeth and no extremeties suspiciously dangling out of place. "You'll be all right," the husband delivers a quick assessment. "You had that coming, didn't you?" he asks Re'Sean, who nodded in agreement.

Re'Sean claims he didn't cry, and we'll take his word for it. However, he wants to go back to that ramp another time to try again. Dad, of course, is proud in a way only fathers can understand: "That's my boy!"

1) Our little handyman working on his skateboard. 2) Returning home with
a busted lip Saturday after his big try on a real ramp.

He went out excited, and came home bloodied.

Posted by fleur at August 31, 2008 02:25 PM