A Day Full of Firsts

Kaelyn was going through this phase when we first moved here that anything relatively flat, was now a chair for her to sit on. She spent hours throughout the day going from one thing to another and sitting on it. Getting up, then sitting back down. Well one morning before Nick was even back from PT she was getting up onto the booster seat, when it fell over, landing her face first on the ground. She got a big gash on her chin which was bleeding profusely, and quite frankly, freaked me out. In my panicked state, I grabbed my old cell phone and dialed 911, not knowing when Nick was going to be home, and still not having a house phone to call anyone. An ambulance was sent, we were walking out the door right when Nick got home, so he stayed home with William as I got my first ride in an ambulance with Kaelyn.
They took us across town and she got all fixed up. In hind sight, no hospital visit was needed, they just glued her chin closed (which didn't really work and broke open again the next day, because she once again fell). As the visit was ending and I was getting ready to leave I realized that I had absolutely no way of getting home. Nick had only had his cell phone for a day or two so I didn't have the number memorized, I couldn't find anyone that spoke more than a few words of English, I had no Euro on me, and I was starting to panic. I said a quick prayer in our room before leaving the emergency room, and headed out the door. I chose one direction, turns out it was the wrong one so I turned around and eventually came across the main entrance. I went to the information desk and finally found someone who spoke decent English who pointed me in the direction of an ATM (which is not what they call them here) and gave me an estimate of how much he though I would need. As luck would have it, he flagged down a cab driver who was pulling away, and almost didn't stop, but he spoke English. He knew where one section of the base was (which is still 10 miles away from home) but I figured if I could get there, I could figure out a better way of getting home. He headed off in that direction, jabbering on about how he loved living in America and how all of the Americans here have so many children. As we drove I figured out where I was, then was able to tell him how to get to our apartment.
He was a lucky driver that day, because of the fact that I felt totally lost and was prepared to walk home, even if it took me all day, he got a large tip of 10 Euro. I truly felt like he was put in my path for a reason, I am truly grateful he was. Plus, I got to enjoy my very first taxi ride.