tragic

i am absolutely distraught over what happened to Natasha Richardson. i first heard about it at the crack of dawn yesterday, on 880 when my alarm clock went off. they said it was a head injury caused by a skiing accident, so i assumed she crashed into something, had a horrific tumble. but it wasn't serious, or didn't seem serious. she apparently just knocked her head on the snow when she fell, was walking and talking and laughing immediately after. 

and now—according to some reports—she's brain dead. 

i'm sorry, what?

i think perhaps—ironically—my knowledge of the human brain is lacking. i think perhaps i didn't realize how damn sensitive the thing is, how so much can go so wrong after a seemingly minor incident. 

my mom's brain bled several times between age 20 and 40, and then she had it operated on—had a bit of it removed, for chrissakes—and now she's fine. when i was 16, i passed out from dehydration in Times Square on a hot summer morning and hit my head so hard on Broadway that i was knocked unconscious. an MRI showed that i was fine. i'm sure certain people would beg to differ, but i've never shown any repercussions or side effects from that event. 

i thought the brain was pretty resilient, pretty resourceful. maybe it is, and Natasha Richardson just was horribly, horribly unlucky. 

or maybe the lesson here is: wear a helmet. wear a helmet when propelling yourself down a ski slope... or on a skateboard or a bicycle or down a football field... for god's sake, protect your head. 

i'm praying for a miracle here, i admit. hoping against hope. i'm not sure why i'm so invested—i always liked her as an actress, i think she and Liam Neeson are an example of what Hollywood couples should be, but i wasn't exactly president of her fan club. 

maybe the whole thing just has me spooked, thinking of how easily my life or my mom's life could have ended way too soon had things gone just a smidge differently. 

mb