We have two
sons that are so different yet so similar.
Tyler is almost done with Driver’s Ed right now and coming into the
stage where Roderick was when he went to heaven. Even though the two brothers are very
different I also see so many similarities in Tyler that remind me of Roderick
at this age. My two sons, I love them
both dearly, not to leave out my daughter, I love her dearly too but I’m
talking about my sons today.
When
Roderick was in grade 2 and Tyler was in Kindergarten the boys would usually
take the bus home from school. We only
had a 10 minute drive to the small town of Riverton where they went to school
but on the bus it took them about 45 minutes to get home so whenever I had
errands to run I would call the school and tell them not to get on the bus but
that I would pick them up. The bus kids
were always dismissed before the town kids.
One day I had called the school that I would pick the boys up but for
some reason they had only told Tyler. As
the buses were about to leave the secretary remembered that she had forgotten
to tell Roderick not to get on the bus, she runs to catch the bus and calls
Roderick off just before they leave. Out
walks a teary eyed but very relieved Roderick.
He had been so scared not knowing what to do because he noticed Tyler
wasn’t on the bus and didn’t know what happened to Tyler. Although on a normal day Roderick thought it
was his job to toughen up his brother he also had a very sensitive and protective
spot in his heart for his brother. He
didn’t sit with his brother or pay attention to him on the bus but he
definitely knew if he was there. Reminds
me of another story, which my friend told me about her kids on the bus. She had three boys on the bus two who were in
high school and one in grade two. One
day her two older boys walked into the house after school but not their younger
brother. My friend asks her boys where
their younger brother is and they have no idea.
She asks if he was on the bus and they have no idea either. She calls the school wondering where her son
is and they were sure he had gone home on the bus, the school calls the bus
driver only to find out her son had fallen asleep and missed getting off the
bus, quite the opposite story.
In 2010 we
moved to the city from our farm in Riverton.
We were mostly moved but were back on the farm to do some work yet just
before school. We had supper at my
brother’s house and I had gone back home to the house, which was just down the
road from my brother’s. Jake had gone to
the barn, which was on my brother’s yard and my brother had gone to unload a
load of square bales in the bale shelter, our three kids and his oldest son had
gone with him to play on the bales. My
brother had unloaded part of the trailer and needed it backed up to unload the
rest. The youngest three kids were out
of the way on the pile of bales in the shelter so he told Roderick to back up
the trailer. The trailer was hooked to a
small pickup truck. Because the truck
was a standard it started to back with a jerk but just before Tyler had decided
to jump onto the trailer, just as he landed the trailer jerked and he fell
between the trailer and the truck on his tummy with his face down. The truck tire drove right over him. The tracks were clearly visible on his
back. The tire drove unto his back
underneath his shoulder blade on one side then over the other shoulder blade
rubbing against the side of his head and ear.
There was dirt pressed into his teeth and ear but when the tire was over
Tyler got up on his own. My brother came
running to him to make sure he was fine.
He was having pain in his chest but could walk so my brother led him to
the barn where Jake was. He opened the
door and called Jake. Jake answered he
was almost done and would be there shortly so my brother answered “your son has
been run over by a truck”. In that case
there was no more work and Jake came running.
He then took the truck and drove Tyler to the house where I was. He told me what happened but knew no
details. I gave Tyler extra strength
Tylenol and took him to emergency. Tyler
would start to cry but then stopped short.
He did this several times. He
said it hurt so bad he needed to cry but then it hurt too much to cry. The drive to emergency was about 35
minutes. On the way Tyler asked me to
pray for him that the pain would go away.
I prayed for him and by the time we got to the hospital I had to keep
him from falling asleep.
Meanwhile
back home Jake went back to my brother's to see what had happened that’s when my
brother told him that Roderick had been the one driving the truck and Jake
looked up to see Roderick still sitting behind the wheel not knowing where to
leave himself fearing what had happened to Tyler. Thinking about it I still cry with pity for
Roderick that he had to sit there as a ten year old for so long. Jake went to comfort him saying that Tyler
would be fine. He then went back to the
house with Roderick worrying about Tyler the whole time. He tried to figure out what he could do for
Tyler to make up for what he had done.
He wanted to use all the money he had in the bank to buy Tyler a bike.
Back to the
hospital, Tyler was taken in by the staff there and strapped to a board to
protect his neck, while I was taken into the office to answer questions. There were two young guys working on Tyler
and I could hear them questioning him. I
was a bit worried what they would do if they found out that a 10-year-old had
been at the wheel and run over Tyler, I thought we might get in trouble but they
never asked me. I heard the young guys
asking Tyler who had driven the truck, he told them his brother had, they asked
how old he was and Tyler said “ten”. But
they never mentioned it again. Tyler was
taken in for x-rays and then brought back into the room to wait for the
results. The Doctor took a cloth and
cleaned his face and teeth while chatting with Tyler. When the x-rays were done he left Tyler and
me alone for a bit to go look at them.
As soon as Tyler and I were alone Tyler started to cry not for pain but
for Roderick. He so much hoped that
Roderick would not feel to bad because it wasn’t his fault.
The x-rays
were sent to the city to specialists for closer observation. At the hospital Tyler was completely relaxed,
I couldn’t tell that he was in pain anymore although if I asked his chest was
still hurting. When the Doctor came back
in he said there was no damage and nothing broken. He unstrapped Tyler from the board and told
him he could tell his friends he was iron man, he could get run over by a truck
and nothing happened to him. Tyler said
“that’s not the reason”. “What’s the
reason then? Asked the Doctor. “Are you
a Christian?” Tyler asked. The Doctor
said he was. And Tyler said that was the
reason, God had protected him.
When Tyler
got home he told Roderick first thing not to feel bad, Roderick was so happy to
see him, for a couple days there they were best friends (I mean they were
always best friends but brother best friends who play and fight together) but
for a couple days there was no fighting and they wanted to play together all
the time.
These are
my two awesome boys; I can imagine the happy reunion they will have in heaven.
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