I don't think I've ever posted something this long on my blog, but this is something I wanted to share and something I for sure wanted to write down . . .
Last week for our family reunion, my mom rented a bounce house. Not just any bounce house, but a huge awesome one that had a slide and an obstacle course inside! The kids were in heaven, and therefore, so were the adults! At first, everything was great, but soon a storm seemed to be heading our way. Right before the storm hit, my mom made all the big kids get out so the little ones could enjoy the bounce house without getting trampled on. The age limit was 4 and under and so Madeline went in along with a couple other tiny ones and two adults to help.
That's when the wind suddenly picked up. We watched as the wind tore the stakes out of the ground and sent the bounce house, people and all, tumbling end over end. It was terrifying to watch my daughter essentially being blown away.
The bounce house made 2 1/2 rotations before the men in the family were able to catch up to it and hold it in place. Without all their strength, it would have kept going. Just as they stopped it, my mom ran up too to help hold on to it. It was then that the stake, which was still hanging over her head since the bounce house was on it's side, fell from the loop and hit my mom above her eye.
I just remember a lot of screaming and crying. It was madness. I watched that stake hit my mom and could hear all the people trapped inside crying out and I was near hysteria myself. I was calling to my mom and she said she was okay (not so sure about that!) and so I directed my attention to finding Madeline.
The men had to rotate the bounce house a little to find the door and then my dad pushed and pulled to find the opening so the kids could get out. I am so grateful that there were a couple adults in there to help get the kids out.
Madeline was the last child out and it was seriously freaking me out. I could see under my Dad's arms and through the masses of squished obstacle course my little girl. Without my cousin Shane being in there, she wouldn't have been able to get out. In that moment, I wondered how it would be if she were trapped like that in a real structure after an earthquake and it took my breath away. When I finally had her in my arms, I'm not sure if I had ever been so happy to hold her so tight. Ethan, who had watched the whole thing, was quite shook up too. The three of us huddled together and hugged. (And where was Todd you might wonder? Well, he just so happened to be gone taking the extra food home to keep in the fridge and missed the entire thing! )
Madeline was sobbing, and quite shook up, but not injured. Shane told me later she was pretty much in the safest place in the bounce house when it started tumbling. It was then, that I remembered my mom and started yelling to my brother to help her. It was still chaos everywhere because all of this happened so fast. No one else had seen the stake fall on her but me. I remember screaming over the noise to him, "Mom is not okay!! Help Mom!"
She had a goose egg the size of a golf ball above her eye and my brother flew from the grass over to the pavilion where he grabbed a table cloth and loaded it with ice in a matter of about two seconds. After some checking, we were grateful to find out that she did not have a concussion. What a blessing that it didn't hit her an inch lower and get her eye, or hit with the point down and stab her (though she does have quite the black eye now). Basically, we were all overwhelmed with how blessed we were that no one got seriously injured. Bruises and headaches, but no trips to the hospital.
I know my mom was inspired to get all the big kids out just a few minutes before. Instead of a few little ones and some adults to help, it would have been close to 10 kids with no adults all crashing into each other and it would have been so much worse.
It took a while but soon we all calmed down. We played an ancestor game - no doubt they were there - and then had the cupcake walk. And in the end, we all felt gratitude and gladness to be together and safe.
And believe it or not, before the night was over (the storm definitely was!), the bounce house was set back up and people went back in. Even Madeline. In the end, I think I was more traumatized than her. Not too long later, I heard her wailing from the bounce house again and it set my heart racing (there's only so much this pregnant mama can take!). Turns out she got whacked and had a bloody nose. Her wailing though, was because she didn't want to get out and get cleaned up . . . but that's another story.
