Sad face

On the evening of July 3rd, Lacey's face met with the pavement in her first official big time bike wreck, and sadly, the pavement won. I was not there to witness the accident, and I am pretty sure that is a good thing because I think I would have panicked upon seeing the amount of blood that resulted from her injuries.

Lacey had been playing all afternoon at Aimee & Casey's with her cousins Hannah & Jamison, and as it was getting dark. It was time to head back to grandma's house for the night. Aimee was putting her baby girls into the car as she told Lacey & Hannah, who were on their bikes, to wait so she could drive slowly and shine the lights on the road while they rode to grandma's house just a few blocks away. The bigger cousins - Katie & the "J" crew - Jaxon, Jacob, Jeffrey - were there as well. Aimee turned her back & the big kids took off then Hannah & Lacey followed suit.

Lacey is a new bike rider just this year. She has gotten quite proficient & loves the freedom of riding her bike in Woodland. However, the darkening sky, a downhill road with a few pot holes and inexperience were not a good combination. Lacey hit a pot hole while going down hill in the dark & it was all over. Poor Aimee came upon the scene a few moments after it happened to find Lacey's face bloody and swollen & Lacey weak & unable to stand up on her own. One of Jacob's friends was trying to hold her up. Aimee swept Lacey up, trying to comfort her, & took her into a neighbor's house to clean her up & assess the damage. Jacob's friend saw what happened and said Lacey flipped over the front of the bike & did a couple of somersaults before she landed. I believe the bike flipped with her at least once as well.


It is unfortunate that Aimee had to be the one to see the initial wounds & clean up all the blood - which seems to be a lot when the mouth gets cut. I missed all the blood & gore and just had to offer a mama's comfort and an ice pack. These pictures were taken the morning after the sad affair, and though Lacey's lip is a bit swollen, it is practically normal compared to the night before when she looked like she had a major collagen treatment gone awry. I just feel blessed that the injury was not worse because it could have been. She had no scrapes at all on her legs, only on her hands & face, which means that her upper body and head took the brunt of the fall. She was not wearing a helmet & the accident could have ended up being a dental disaster or a more serious head injury. But, thankfully, the injuries were minor. However, Lacey was very self-conscious about her appearance, running to the mirror every few minutes to see if the ice pack was doing its job. She also wanted me to put make up on her wounds over the next few days & I had to convince her that no one would really notice the scrapes on her face.

I tried to impress upon Lacey the importance of following instructions from one who is older & wiser than she. I wanted her to understand that if she had followed Aunt Aimee's initial instructions and waited, she would have been safe as Aunt Aimee's car lighted the way for her. I tried to explain that as we go through life, if we keep the commandments and follow the instructions of our leaders, the teaching of our savior will light the way and we will find safety and peace and will be protected from many dangers that we might otherwise face. I hope that even to a small degree, this lesson was learned.