Moving a bunny

Today I am grateful for my oldest son.  He has been full of energy since the day he was born, and still is one of those people who don't need a lot of sleep.  He is brave and confident.  If he decides to do something, he just does it.  When he wanted to walk at 9 months of age, he just walked across the room to play with the other kids.  No faltering steps to mother's arms, no need to coax him, just look at him go.  Same thing with riding a bike - one day he wanted to ride his friend's bike, so he got on and away he went.  I looked out the window and there he was, riding down the sidewalk.  When he graduated from college, he decided he was tired of apartments, so he would buy a house.  When he came over for dinner one evening, his father asked if anything exciting had happened, and he said, "Well, I bought a house last week."  He picked out wall colors and flooring and bought a new house, just like that.  It's a very nice house.  We never know what he will be doing next, but it will be interesting.

About a year after we got Smokey we found out that we were moving again.  I won't bore you with all the details of selling out house and buying a new one, but at last we were about ready to go.  One evening the day before the movers were going to pack our house up, my husband and I were relaxing in the living room while the children rode their bikes outside.  Suddenly our daughter came running into the house screaming, "He broke his arm!  He broke his arm!"  We raced outside and found our youngest son underneath his bike next door.  We looked at his arm.  It didn't look right.  My husband got a dish towel to use as a sling, got him as comfortable as he could, and drove to the hospital.

I stayed with the other two children and interviewed them about events.  My daughter had crashed into her brother while they were riding their bikes.  She was distraught because she felt she had broken his arm.  She took more comforting than the injured party.  She felt so bad, even though I tried to reassure her that it truly was an accident.

Meanwhile back at the hospital, x-rays were taken and a diagnosis was made.  The arm was broken half-way between the shoulder and elbow.  The bones were put back into place and a proper sling was administered.  The cast would have to wait until the swelling had decreased - at least 2 days.  We were leaving town in 4 days.

For the next 2 days we watched the packers box up our belongings while we kept the injured son quiet and entertained.  The third day he got his cast on and the fourth day the drivers put everything into the big moving van and we all took off for Ames, Iowa.

I had always avoided getting a pet because of the trouble of moving with them.  This time we moved with 3 children, a bunny, and a broken arm.  No one could touch the broken arm boy.  It took the "He's touching me." issue to a whole new level.  We hardly noticed the bunny in his travel cage in the back of the station wagon.  At night we snuck him into our room for safety and, of course,  he had food and water in his cage.  He was even a comfort for the broken arm boy and a distraction for the rest of us.  Who knew that traveling with a bunny could be such a good thing.