About a year ago I was burning some brush in the front yard all day long. The kids got off the bus and met me there by the pile, and I instructed them on fire safety and having the hose there and being careful and all that. Well, the pile had moved a bit during the day and while standing there with my eight y/o all of a sudden she stepped into the grey ashes in her sandals and howled and jumped back. She never expected that as I had neglected to tell her that it was still extremely hot. We poured cold water on her feet and they were very red for a couple days, nothing too serious, no blisters and a lesson learned for us both. I never mentioned the accident to anyone , maybe a few friends, but because I'd never heard of this happening to anyone else and because I was a little embarrased that this could happen while she was with me , the safety freak, I didn't think the story was worth repeating. But this summer the same exact thing happened to one of her best friends at school, with much more severe consequences. Here is an excerpt from the local paper.....
Seven-year-old Grace * thought she was running to the top of a dirt pile, but it was really a mound of burning debris.
For this little girl who loves fairies and whose main goal was to get a puppy, life has been confined to a hospital room ever since.
The accident, which happened three weeks ago, was the beginning of a painful ordeal for Grace, who is recovering from second- and third-degree burns on her feet and hand. On Tuesday, as a patient at Shriners' Hospital for Children in Boston, she received skin grafting, and her family will find out today whether the procedure was successful.
Now that Grace is healing, the family is organizing a bottle drive, hoping to make a sizable donation to Shriners' Hospital, which Grace will present personally on her own behalf.
Grace was to enter the second grade at ****** Elementary School in two weeks, but her injuries will prevent her from starting on time. Despite that, according to Shannon ** her aunt, Grace has maintained her typical kind and thoughtful demeanor toward others
Gracie
was there the first day of school, in a wheelchair! We were so so happy to see her and I had a good cry with her mother once we were out of sight of the girls. She's doing real well now, running and playing with everyone else in the schoolyard.
Make sure when you burn that you tell everyone around that the ashes are HOT even when they don't look it.
Sorry about the long post.......had to get this one out.
