His poor arm!

First some background: the kids were getting their bikes out to go to school when I was called out to the garage. The brakes on Tank's bike weren't working right.

It looked like the cable for the rear brake had slipped and the rear brake wouldn't tighten enough to, you know, actually stop his bike. The front brake was fine, so he could mostly stop. I was late for work, so I told him to just go slow and be careful. The school is about 2 minutes away by bike, so I thought it would be OK. (queue the orchestra for the ominous music)

I got a text from Allie that afternoon informing me that Tank had crashed on his bike on the way home from school and that his arm looked bad and might be broken!! I knew instantly what had happened. There is one hill on the way home from school that is pretty steep. Tank HAS to always be first going down that hill and he goes really fast. I was sure that he'd lost control on that hill without brakes and had crashed.

I quickly called Allie and she confirmed my suspicions. I asked her how bad his arm was. She said that it looked pretty bad, but that she thought we should wait until I got home to go to the hospital. He had ice on it and leaving work early is tough right now, so I agreed.

I felt horrible! It was totally my fault because I let him ride his bike without good brakes. I couldn't believe how stupid I was. What a mess. First of all, it hurts to have a broken arm. Plus he's become somewhat of a star on his football team and he'd have to miss the games. Plus getting him dressed and bathed is hard enough without a cast. Plus getting him to/from school is going to be so much harder. I couldn't believe what a pain this was going to be. I'm such an idiot.

I had the idea that Allie could take Tank to her brother's office and get an X-ray to at least see if it was really broken. She sounded stressed, but she agreed to call him. It was about 4:00, and it's hard to get in touch with a doctor at the end of a day in the clinic because docs are always behind.

I felt guilty and crummy for the rest of the day. I called on the way home and she hadn't been able to get her brother on the phone, but she'd left a message for him to call back. Bummer.

I finally pulled into the garage and came inside. The boys were watching TV on the couch and Tank was under a blanket. His poor arm! I went over to Allison to get the scoop. She said that his arm really hurt, and we should probably take him to the hospital :( So I went over to see him and evaluate the situation. I felt so bad!

I pulled the blanket back and he was smiling! That was unexpected. Then he started laughing and the other boys were laughing. I couldn't figure out was was going on. Then they all yelled April Fools! It took me a few seconds to get it. It was all a joke, I couldn't believe it! Wow, they really got me. I really had no idea that it was a joke and it took a few minutes to unload all of the guilt and worry. Then I was so relieved that it never happened. I was laughing harder than they were.

Then I got out my tools and fixed Tank's bike.