Lucky to be alive

Hipee is lucky to be alive. Really, it was miraculous that she managed to reach the ripe old age of six. You know when people say that God must have kept someone around for a reason because they survived some tragic accident? God must have dispatched a whole battalion of Angels to protect Hipee so she could become the high powered executive she is today.

Three memorable brushes with disaster come quickly to mind. These don’t even take into account the numerous times as a young child that Hipee, taking any available opportunity to go exploring, just wandered off. She was one of those kids that should have been kept on a leash, a short leash… with a bell. I’m not even including the time she crashed through a glass door.

The first accident occurred when Hipee was a toddler, probably 1 or 2 so I was around 3 or 4. I had a dollhouse that was made out of metal. While I can’t remember any sort of jagged edges on it, Hipee managed to trip over it and sliced open her leg. She was rushed off to the hospital for stitches. My dollhouse was thrown out. Our mother still calls it “that stupid tin doll house.” Hipee has a smiley face scar today that marks the place she had stitches. I had a homeless dollhouse family.

The second disaster was when Hipee decided to pretend she was driving. As she sat in the car parked on the sloping driveway the silly girl managed to put the car in neutral so it started rolling down the driveway. Hipee, knowing that riding in a moving car under her control was not a good thing, decided to pull a James Bond. She jumped out of the moving car, onto the driveway, right under the tire, which proceeded to roll over her. Yes, Hipee managed to run over herself in our driveway. She was rushed off to the hospital and survived to live another day.

The third event was equally bad. We were playing hide and seek. Hide and seek was more like a competitive sport at my house and you had to come up with good, inventive spots in order to stand even a small chance of winning. Hipee went and climbed into an old refrigerator. Today we all know exactly why they tell you to take the doors off them or tie them shut. At that time my parents felt that repeatedly telling us to stay away from it until they got rid of it was sufficient. The warning worked for Ed and me, but not for Hipee, who decided that it was the perfect hiding spot. She is lucky we heard her banging on the door to let her out. I would imagine some Angels were helping her pound so we could hear. At least Angels probably have a heavenly retirement program with perfect benefits.

Readers may have noticed a decided focus on stories involving my sister, Hipee this month. There is a reason for this. It’s the birthday weekend we’ve all been waiting for:

Happy Birthday, Hipee!

Don’t work those Angels watching over you too hard! We need to keep all of you high powered executives in the world today!