Daughter-Date Drama

An emailed note to my daughter's pre-school Montessori teacher: 

On our mother daughter date last night, Yael and I had quite an adventure – maybe too much for such a tender age. (she's 5 going on 35 if you don't know her personally)

A gentleman at the next table fainted or something from what I can only assume was a diabetic shock since they had him sipping orange juice. That and that the woman who eventually turned up - pretty quickly, actually, even before the paramedics - in a bathrobe and slippers to help him was going on about insulin.

One of the people at the table (or maybe it was kitchen staff, hard to tell with my hurried glances) was holding the gentleman up so he wouldn’t crash to the floor with his arms over his head and his head bobbing about. Yael alerted me to the situation before I saw what was happening. She claims she saw something white on the man’s chest and I SO hope it wasn’t that the man was foaming at the mouth or something and that maybe it was an insulin port or something of the like.

In any case, one of the staff called 911, despite the gentleman’s friends not wanting to have them called. During the time she was making the call I moved Yael to the front of the store and faced her toward the door so she wouldn’t see any more of the dramatic scene. I bought her some candy from a machine at the door (the whole reason she likes to go there) and assured her that help was on the way. The paramedics arrived in a fire truck with lights blazing (and thankfully no siren) and as soon as we saw them calmly entering with their rescue gear and paperwork, we took the M&Ms and left.

At this point she was both scared and maybe a little more than vaguely curious and I was glad to see from my quick glances that the man seemed to be conversing from his prone position laid out on the tabletop. I was able to assure her wholeheartedly that he was in good hands and being well taken care of and would probably go to the hospital. I finally remembered our 911 game. We took the opportunity to play – and I assured her that YES, this was definitely a situation in which 911 should be called and I tried to make it as normal as possible. She had a million questions as to why the fire truck showed up instead of an ambulance and I tried to answer as straightforward as I could, including a discussion about paramedics and firemen and a bed on wheels in the ambulance called a gurney. Such curiosity!!!

We continued on to a different place and she still seemed to enjoy her (late) night out. So if she’s tired or has a million questions today, please be patient and let her talk out this really dramatic (and I hope not too traumatic) experience. 

Then again, it may just be a regular day in the life of Yael.