Write@Home
Winter 2015

Parenthood

learning to walk

I was a year and a half old and had not yet learned to walk, only crawl. One day I was playing under the kitchen table with plastic cans next to my mother while she was cooking. When my father came from work, he greeted my mother but did not see me under the table. He turned to the bedroom and saw the window was open; we were living on the third floor! He rushed to the bedroom, saw my brother playing there, but he did not find me. Fearful and terrified to see me below, he glanced down but he didn’t see anyone. He caught his breath and quietly closed the window. In order not to terrify my mother also, he came to her and asked about his little daughter. She told him that she was playing under the table. He bent down to see under the table to find me there and breathed a sigh of relief; I was fine! The next day he bought locks for the windows to avoid this again, anticipating future events of terror and panic.