Head Over Heels

Yikes. Erin has achieved flight unsuccessfully. Thankfully the human cannonball had her bike helmet strapped on her head. We were coming around a nice long curve at high speed on our bikes when she had the slightest bobble. She over corrected from her bobble into a full-blown wobble before the bike went out from under her. As the bike slid away across the concrete, Miss Erin continued her forward motion. Her head hit the concrete with her feet in the air before her little body flipped over to pull her full weight down onto her arm and hip.
It was a sickening moment. She didn't yell. She didn't give one of her trademark wailing screams. That did not reassure me as I was disentangling myself from my own bike to stumble toward her. I gave an initial check of her head, neck, and back before picking her up. (Like I know what I'm looking at?!) Evan rode after Don, and Katie rode to the home of some friends who live nearby (but were not home) in hopes of help. I was staggering down the street with a slightly shocked, pale, sweating seven-year old in my arms when a vaguely familiar mommy appeared on her driveway to ask if we needed help.
Erin didn't really register when we entered the some-time elementary coach's house to clean her scrapes because she was still freaked-out from her abortive flight and a bleeding elbow. Once she was a bit more with-it, she developed a case of shy so we headed back outside as Katie rode up to report that she had reached Don by phone, and he was on his way. The coach sent her kids to retrieve our bikes from the middle of the street while telling Erin that her tale of woe would be a good example for the other kids at school re: the necessity of wearing a helmet.
The rest of the cavalry arrived a few minutes later. Don came around the corner in the truck with Evan leading the way on his bike. We loaded Erin and her bike into the truck for the ride home. The bigger kids and I rode back home where we found Erin laying on the couch with ice on her ouchies. She'll be spending the remainder of the evening resting, and Evan has a doozy of a story to mark his first ride on his newly replaced bike. I'm still not 100% certain we won't end up in the kiddie E.R., but I am reserving judgment until Erin's injuries have been iced for a little bit longer.