Crazy Things Happen When You Get Older

 Not a picture of the moment! The real moment moved too fast—and mattered too much—for a camera.

I heard my granddaughter crying—a panicked cry that made me run toward her. The kind of cry that meant something was really wrong.

I found her at the top of the stairs, her little head wedged between the banister rails. Her eyes were wide with fear, her hands gripping the spindles as she tried to pull herself free.

I ran up the steps, yelling for my husband in the kitchen. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, told her to breathe, and promised we would get her out.

She wasn’t quiet, but she was brave. She stopped struggling and let me hold her steady while Grandpa rushed up the stairs.

Together, we lifted her, angling her body just enough to ease her head back through the rails. It took only a few seconds. As soon as she was free, she wailed. She cried hard for a minute in my arms, then pulled back.

 She started walking slowly down the hall, still looking sad. I asked if she would come back for another hug, and she did.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You got your head stuck in the banister,” I said.

She frowned and glanced back at the stairs. I’m sure she was thinking she had put her head there many times before, and had never gotten stuck.

I considered explaining that the rails were wider at the top, that she was taller now. But she’s three, and none of that would have made sense.

“You’re three now,” I said. “Crazy things happen to your body when you get older. Your head got bigger.”

She nodded, satisfied.

“My head got bigger because I’m big,” she said.

And she was right.