These photos can be considered the BEFORE photos at the Botanical Gardens. The AFTER photo was not taken due to emergency measures being taken instead. We went to the Botanical Gardens to relax and run around outside, which we did. We had decided that it was time to head home but Clara wanted to see one last thing so I had agreed to 5 more minutes. Literally as I am saying, Ok guys time's up, Leona runs off the trail and falls into a cactus. It was horrible. Her adorable chubby hands and wrists were COVERED in spines. She started to clench her little fists because they hurt and I was trying to figure out what to do. Is this the kind of thing that you go to the hospital for? Should I somehow try to get her home and then take out the spines? Where could I even find tweezers here? Should I call Collin and have him come get the other two girls or hold Leona's hands so that we can get her home? I felt so powerless.
Just then this kind young woman came over and asked if she could help. She helped me herd the big girls to the visitor's center and procured tweezers while I slowly walked holding Leona's arms and saying "Open handies" on a loop. She stayed with us for over an hour while we took turns pulling spines out of Leona's hands, wrists, and forearms. She stayed even after I told her a couple of times that I could handle it from that point. She was an angel sent to help. She has become a metaphor for the kind people of Austin who helped me this summer even when they didn't know me. I was so grateful for her help. At one point while we waited for the Elmer's glue to dry on Leona's hands in an attempt to remove the hairlike spines Leona looked right at her and said, "Jesus dies." So then I explained to her that Leona had been a bit obsessed with the topic ever since Easter. She told me that it was ok, she's Catholic, and I told her that we were members of the church. Leona even worked a missionary moment into her fiasco. Well done.
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