My aunt Ellen is a nurse in the ER. Once a toddler came in. He had choked on a grape, and died. My aunt cuts her kids' food into bites no larger than pencil erasers. She tells us the story every time the kids have grapes.
When they were two and four, my brother Daniel and my cousin Elijah were playing at the top of my aunt Rebecca's stairs. Elijah fell to the bottom. My aunt carried him over to our house limp and broken-looking. He was unconscious, we thought he was dead. He is fine, but my aunt gets nervous when little kids are on the stairs.
When I was five, I stepped on a bee. My foot got infected, and there was a red streak going up the inside of my leg, over my ankle. My mom took me to the doctor. I remember he called it blood poisoning. He said if that red streak came up to my heart, I would die. I watch bites and scrapes very carefully.
When my sister was nine, our kitten scratched her. She got Cat Scratch Fever. She ended up missing almost six weeks of fourth grade. We always wash animal scratches with soap and water.
When my dad was a little kid, he liked to spin around in circles until he got so dizzy he fell down. Until he spun himself into a doorway and sliced open his head. He doesn't like it when he sees little kids spinning around.
When I was 7 1/2, my siblings and some other kids that were over tried to lock me out of the house. They slammed my finger in the front door. From the outside, I pulled out my hand and stuck in my mouth. From the inside, my sister saw my finger tip. She opened the door, and it fell on the floor. She looked at me, and I had blood pouring out of my mouth, all over my shirt, the porch, my toes. Two reconstructive surgeries later, I have a functional (albeit ugly) hand and finger tip. We don't ever slam doors.
When my dad was in elementary school, one of his friends fell and got a particularly bad bruise. But it was just a bruise, and no one really thought anything of it. However when he still had the bruise a month later, his parents took him to the doctor. He had cancer. He died. My dad is very watchful of bruises.
What do you worry about?
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I live for validation.