While cleaning at one end of the house, I hear my 3 year old start screaming at the other end, in the kitchen. “Help Me Momma!” Now, as any parent knows, that creates an immediate emotional response that borders on panic, but is carefully restrained in case the catastrophe is not really that big of a deal. Children see our panic, and it makes them panic. I stormed into the kitchen prepared to see blood everywhere… only to see… nothing. No blood, no daughter! I hear her though, and charge blindly towards the sound of her voice. Finally, I see her. Stuck in the space between the refrigerator and the wall (you know, that space that’s big enough for a broom, mop and stepladder). She had gone in, and couldn’t get back out. Relief washed over me as I helped her out.

The experience got me to thinking about the instant that I was “charging blindly”. What if this had been an entirely different type of situation? Say we were hiking, and a snake bit her and I charged blindly… into the fangs of a rattler?? Then, not only would her life be on the line, but so would mine! How could I tend to her if I were injured or severely hurt because I had gone unknowingly into the very thing that had endangered her?

Do you think that in my hypothetical situation about the snake, my brains would over-ride my emotions at the critical time? Any thoughts on how to work on finding the safest balance between emotional response and measured reaction? Emotions make our reactions faster, so is that something that really needs to be buffered? Could reigning in my emotions and being more cautious mean the precious few seconds between life and death? That’s not something that I really know if you can prepare for. Kind of disturbing.
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Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.

~Marion C. Garretty