Mother's Day Musical, Which Turned Out to Be a Drama

In our church, the elementary children's choir performs a musical on Mother's Day. They work really hard on it. This year's performance, "The Tale of the Three Trees," was Tiny Girl's last, since she's in fifth grade.




One side of the stage. Photo courtesy Kristy.


About a third of the way through the performance, the risers on which several children were standing collapsed with a shocking BANG. You can imagine the reaction. Several children burst into tears, the choir volunteers ran up to check on everyone, and I could see Tiny Girl, who'd been on the top riser, on the floor holding her leg. I did not see any blood or tears, so although I was shaky, I wasn't unduly alarmed.

After about a minute, Himself, a rock in crises, said, "I'm going up to check on her." (When I asked him later what made him decide to do that, he replied, "She wasn't getting up. I knew something must be wrong.") I watched uneasily while he knelt down to talk to our child. Meanwhile, as a diversion, the children's minister interviewed other children about their parts in the musical.

Himself returned with a rueful smile. "She's going to have quite a bruise."

The children regrouped, the minister prayed, and the musical continued. And what a triumph it was! All the children performed beautifully. Tiny Girl limped to the front of the stage, sang her solo perfectly, and limped back to her place. It turns out that she was the only injured one.

She spent the rest of Sunday afternoon on the couch, leg elevated, with an ice pack and ibuprofen. Her foot and shin swelled, and Himself and I debated about what to do. We decided to wait and see.

Monday (yesterday) morning, Himself took her for x-rays. According to the x-ray tech, there are no breaks, but we're waiting to hear for certain from the radiologist. By yesterday evening, Tiny Girl, who quickly conquered the crutches, was feeling better. Her foot is turning a nice shade of blackish blue. But we are thankful; it could have been so much worse.

She's a trouper, but it's hard being on the sidelines. She's missing out on swim team practice, which started yesterday; riding; a professional baeball game tonight; and a visit to an area theme park's homeschool day this Friday. I'll have to be creative in keeping her spirits up. If you have any suggestions, let me know!