Oh, My Aching Backside

Saturday started out as such a fun day. Santa came early since we won’t be here for Christmas day, and the kids were shocked. We didn’t tell them so when they woke up they found stockings filled with a few goodies, some candy and, of course, underwear. Santa always brings the essentials! And with the underwear the kids found sleds. Our first ever sleds!

So we went to the local sledding hill, built by the city and covered with God-given snow. This is a serious hill, 70 feet tall with lots and lots of snow.

The kids and Sean had gone twice before with a borrowed sled and loved it so they were already pros. Rebecca proved to be quite brave on the smaller hill and Michael and Amy were completely crazy on the high hill. Amy even went down once with her hands held high, like she was on a roller coaster.

Then it was my turn. I remember going down a hill on a tube once, and I’ve skied lots of times so I was surprised that I was actually a bit afraid of the hill. Turns out I had good reason to be.

I gingerly sat down on the sled, the kids cheered wildly and Sean gave a slight push. I was off and it really was fun. Until the end when I hit a clump of frozen ice/snow. The hard, plastic sled did not offer any cushion and I hit hard on what I thought was a rather cushioned butt. But not cushioned enough.

I immediately burst into tears. I had never felt that kind of shooting pain before.

The kids raced down the hill after me, ready to congratulate their cool Mom on a good run. But what they found was a Mom who couldn’t get off her sled and was crying, begging for help.

Sean came down the hill next and he looked bewildered. He knew I loved roller coasters and anything fun like that. He was sure I’d love sledding. So when he found me in a puddle of tears (which, by the way, actually froze on my chin) he hardly knew what to say.

He helped me up but the pain didn’t subside. I told everyone I would be just fine, and please, go sled! I’m a Mom! I can’t wait to watch my beloved children slide down a hill while I stand here in the freezing cold nursing a throbbing bum.

They sledded (is that a word?) a bit more and then we headed home. But I could not sit down and I rode the entire way home leaning on my left thigh with my right arm pushing against the door for leverage. (I know you’re trying to picture that – please stop now. It was not a pretty.)

And now, two days later, I am typing this while I sit precariously perched on a semi-cushioned chair. I am leaning forward so as to avoid my back side coming into contact with the back side of the chair.

And I have a 13 hour car ride coming up in three days… That should be interesting to say the least.