Wounded Warrior, Part 2

Boo boo
London, ON
July 2013

Many words come to mind when I'm asked to describe our daughter, Dahlia. She's smart, kind and incredibly focused. If she wants something, she just goes for it.

Which is what she was doing on the soccer field last night when her face ended up in the same three-dimensional space as a fast-moving ball. Just seconds before the incident that left her looking like she'd been in a bar fight, she was right in the middle of a scrum of onrushing opponents, fighting to get the ball out of her zone.

This is the same field where, two years earlier, she hurt her thumb while playing goalie (link). But now as then, she shrugged it off with her typical never-give-up attitude. And smile. That smile that lets you know she's just fine, that she can take a hit on the outside, but it'll only make her stronger on the inside.

We went  out for ice cream afterward. figuring a little treat would ease the pain. She got stares - I'm sure everyone now thinks we're parents of the year - and just laughed them off. We bantered about the incident, and she spoke about looking forward to getting back on the field with her teammates. We updated the social media world (Facebook - Dahlia's, Debbie's, mine - and Twitter) and felt blessed when so many friends and family weighed in online.

In the end, her team came from behind and won the game. And our no-longer-little-girl found another way to turn one of life's knocks into an advantage and a growth opportunity. Play on, Peanut.