Flesh Wounds and Life Lessons

I had the opportunity to share a special Dad and Daughter moment last night with Leah.  Rachel and I were sitting on the back deck discussing how old we were.  I had just sat down with an ice-cold Lemon Shandy and began whittling a new door-stop while my wife worked on chopping soap for our special home-made laundry detergent.  I said we were old.

The scene of the bloody crime.

I was whittling away and quenching my thirst when Leah came out to see what we were doing.  "I not see eww", as she says.  Well, she found us (she always does, no matter how hard we hide) and like all inquisitive four-year olds, wanted to know what we were doing.

 I showed her my extremely sharp knife, while Rach showed her the soap.  Around that time the baby started screaming about something, so Rachel stood up to deal with her.

About that time, I thought to myself, "There has to be a quicker way to whittle this stupid thing."  I rearranged the block of wood and stared at it for a while, pondering my next move.  "If I cut this way, I'm sure to cut my finger off", I thought to myself.  "Oh, I'll just try it one time, I won't even use full cutting pressure.  It'll be alright.  One time won't hurt."

That's when it happened.

One swipe of the blade and thirteen blood-soaked paper towels later, I had one hell of a flesh wound.  After the bleeding and dizziness stopped, I turned this into an important life lesson for Leah.  I slowly inched towards her and said, "See Leah, one time is all it takes.  People will tell you that one time won't hurt,  but look at Daddy's finger.  That's what can happen 'Just One Time'.  Please remember this baby, one time." 

She must have taken this lesson seriously, because she immediately teared up and began to tend to my wound.  Rachel suggested I go to the Emergency Room and get stitches, but let's face it,  the E.R. doctor wouldn't give me a kiss and a Dora necklace.