More life lessons from Zoe

It's all downhill from here, originally uploaded by Marcyjill.

Sunday afternoon we took Zoe sledding on a big hill in a nearby park. Zoe can be pretty fearless so she was raring to go when we got to the top of the hill. Rob and I were both a bit nervous about pushing our little girl off down a hill that steep, but we were there and she was ready so we put her in the sled and off she went laughing the entire time. She practically ran back up the hill.

On the third run down Zoe's hat came off when she was almost at the bottom of the hill. After she reached the bottom she headed up the hill to retrieve it. There were a lot of people on the hill so what happened next wasn't even that surprising. A sled loaded with 2 kids and a Dad hit her and knocked her right off her feet. It was one of those moments where time just stops.

Rob and I ran down the hill as quickly as we could. I thought she had to have either have a concussion or a broken bone. It was a nasty looking hit. We looked her over carefully. She had a cut on her nose and a scrape on her forehead, but otherwise, miraculously, she looked OK. She stopped crying as we headed back up the hill, but when Rob and I headed toward the car rather than heading back to the sledding she started to cry again.

"We don't have to go home now, do we?" she cried. "I want to do more sledding!"

We decided that if she felt up to it than she must be OK and a huge smile spread across her face when I said she could go down for a few more runs. And she was off and running again, smiling, laughing, slightly more cautious, but just as enthusiastic.

Zoe has always been like that. I think of her as being "unsinkable." When she wants to do something, go somewhere nothing stands in her way. A little thing like being tackled by a sled wasn't going to ruin her day of sledding.

Makes me think there is a good lesson in there for me too. I can't let the little setbacks ruin the big picture. It is so easy to fall into that, but life is so much happier when you don't.