This WAS NOT in the Job Description

During rest/study time this afternoon the girls and my son rode their bikes to the local cemetery.

The local market is on the way and I am sure they stocked up on forbidden candy and soda. I didn't really care. I just wanted an hour of quiet so that the little one could nap and I could get in some much needed study time.

The cemetery is the largest in Portland. It is very beautifully landscaped with several small ponds. My girls stretch out on their towels and read. My son catches frogs. Perfect summer fun.

45 minutes later, moments after I had fallen asleep with the text book open to preemie infants resting on my chest, they all came crashing through the back door.

Fellow parents know that sound your child makes when something is wrong. It has a distinctly different tone from the mad yell, the sad yell or the frustrated yell. This was the "there is an emergency" yell. I sat straight up in bed. The book hit the floor. My feet followed.

It was my 11 year old daughter doing the yelling. On behalf of her brother. No, he was not comatose. He had a leech on his foot and blood was dripping onto the hardwood floor.

Didn't I write about blood sucking creatures from hell yesterday?

In a crisis I tend to become very calm and focused. It's a talent. I've had a fair amount of practice.

The bleeding boy with critter attached was placed on the bathroom vanity, foot in sink. The 11 year old was sent to retrieve salt from the kitchen.

A shit load of salt and a wee bit of patience later and the leech fell off into the sink. Blood poured from the hole but some pressure and a band-aide fixed that.

Then we spotted the second visitor. This one was hiding between his toes. He too followed his brother down the drain.

Crisis averted. My son even remarked that the whole thing had been fun because "blood was so fascinating!".

Did I mention that I don't do leeches? That they make my skin crawl? That I wanted to run out of the house screaming? Or at least, crawl back into bed and pull the covers up over my head?

But NO! I sucked it up...pun intended. I modeled courage and bravery.

Next time he goes to the pond I am sending him with a salt shaker and a supply of band-aides. If he wants to wade with the frogs, he is old enough to preform his own leech removals.