Safety

Sometimes I feel like my job as a parent is to wrap my girls in my arms and never let go so that nothing bad will ever happen to them. It’s my job to keep them safe and safety is a good thing. Safety keeps you, well, safe. Safety pins keep us from getting poked. Safety glasses keep us from burning our eyes in chemistry class. And who doesn’t love “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats?

We’ve had to use many medications, devices, and contraptions to keep Audrey safe. Walking isn’t a safe activity when you don’t have a vestibular system, so she has to use a walker. I love the fact that when I put her in her walker, she takes off like she stole something and giggles and laughs as she runs around the house. I had pretty much accepted the fact that she was going to have to use a walker for the rest of her life, and I had made my peace with that. Apparently, Audrey didn’t get that memo.

Last week, I put her in her walker, and she didn’t take off running. She paused, and I could tell she was thinking about something. Then, she decided to take the road less traveled. The less safe path.

For the last few weeks, her teachers have been telling us how they and her classmates have been amazed at the way she walks around the room without her walker. And the in-school physical therapist called us last week just to let us know that Audrey walked by herself all the way to the cafeteria. I don’t know exactly how far it is from her classroom to the cafeteria, but I know that walk is more impressive than all the marathons that I have run.

She has some bruises and bumps because she does fall more often when she leaves the walker behind, but that hasn’t stopped or discouraged her from walking without it.

Maybe safety is a good thing up to a point. Too much safety can hold you back. I don’t see any Olympic swimmers wearing arm floaties, and I don’t see any riders in the Tour de France on bikes with training wheels. I’m not suggesting we all stop wearing seatbelts and ignoring expiration dates on food, but you get the point Audrey is teaching us:

Sometimes you have to let go of something keeping you safe if you want to move higher.