All Choked Up

"We had sort of a freaky morning."

That was my greeting this morning from the beloved wife when I stumbled downstairs at 11. Jimmer Fredette pushed my bedtime to 4 am with his most Jimmer-licious performance to date, so I didn't mind staying a shade late at work. [For the uninitiated, or the dues-paying members of ever-growing the Jimmer Cult, here's Kelli Anderson's quality report from Provo.]

It wasn't a great sleep, but I was relatively awake and reaching for the Cheerios when Amy advised me of the 'freaky morning'. Now, the canvas is pretty much wide-open when it comes to our kids, 'freaky', and mornings. Did Mia change her mind on what hat to wear for Hat Day? Did Tyler forget that six-page book report was due TODAY? Was Will driving our schizofrenic dog nuts? I was ready for another marble to put in the Illogical Things Our Kids Do jar, when I was hit with what must have been as frightening a 10 seconds a parent can have.

"Mia choked on some bacon and I had to do the Heimlich," Amy said, still shaken up and unsure of exactly what it was she did. Amy said Mia stopped making noise, was waving her arms and was clearly in distress. Amy stood her up on the couch, pushed on her chest from behind and out came the bacon. Amy said Mia cried, and explained that she is really good holding her breath swimming, but that is when she gets to take a deep breath to start, and she didn't get to take a deep breath when she was eating her bacon.

Like all children, Mia bounced back quicker than the adult. She was ready for school not too much later, unlike her drained mother, who wouldn't have minded decompressing on the couch for a few hours. The whole thing was so surreal to me, I had a hard time even contemplating the horror of those 10 seconds. We always had a choking fear when the kids were babies, but those days are long gone. I hope I would have reacted like Amy did, but who knows? Thankfully, she was the superstar when it counted. I bought her flowers when I went to Kroger later that morning, making me almost as much of a superstar, at least in my eyes.

Anyway, this blog isn't supposed to be heavy on drama and reflection and self-discovery and other things that Julia Roberts inevitably experiences in her movies. Today's story was unique, and hopefully never to be repeated. We can now get back to our regularly scheduled programming of cluelessness, Wii conflicts and youthful innocence that demands to be chronicled.