As mothers go, I truly do not feel I am obnoxious.  I am, however, very proudly verbal.  I took this picture immediately after our six-year-old had her cast removed from breaking her elbow awhile back.  They literally used pliers to remove the stainless steel L-shaped pins that were embedded inside her bones — without so much as a minimal pain dimmer.  It involved a bit of digging and there was an awful wrenching sound as the rather long pins were slowly twisted and pulled from her small frame.  She never cried and she actually watched them being removed without even a flinch.  The doctors there said they have seen big professional football players take one look at their surgeries after their casts were removed and have thrown up.  Not my girl!  She asked what they were doing every step of the way and, despite being pale, refused to look away.  After her pins were out she said she wanted to keep them, so the physician’s assistant helpfully cleaned them and then sealed them in a clear medical bag.  She couldn’t wait to bring them to show and tell.  On the way out she privately lamented her pins’ sterility; she would have preferred to have retained the blood and tissue that came out along with them.  Even having had her hard cast sawed off and her pins removed, you will note she is still in a sling here.  It would be over a month before her doctor would give her clearance to resume her twice a day recesses with her classmates as well as her physical education classes, all of which she had missed for months.  Austin O’Malley, who was a professor of English at Notre Dame as well as an ophthalmologist once said, “When walking through the ‘valley of shadows,’ remember, a shadow is cast by a Light.”  I think it became more difficult for her not to move fully once all her procedures were over.  Even her P.E. coach said she was “a good sport” about her confinement, although he could see her frustration.  I suspect this serves as a classic lesson that one does not fully appreciate what one has until it is lost.  After she was officially released I believe she has given more thought and gratefulness for physical activity, and she is thankful to be cast off.