The sucky part of being a parent

Yesterday, when we were down the street for a walk, I was leading Keira by the hand over the pedestrian crossing, pushing Riley in the pram, when this woman tore around the corner in her little white Barina and barrelled through, without even slowing down. Luckily, Keira and I had almost stepped off it, so were out of harm's way, but if we were even three seconds slower, it might've been a different, tragic story. I think the woman sensed she'd done something wrong because once she'd crossed, she put the brakes on her car (a bit late). This, or, perhaps she heard the "F--king Hell!" which escaped my lips and also brought us to the attention of fellow walkers-by. So, I turned around and gave her the scowling of a lifetime. She scampered off to a nearby car park and I had to turn my attention to Keira who'd decided that "F--king Hell" was a perfectly acceptable conversational starter and was practising with gusto. So, we make it home, me with my jelly legs and I open the mailbox. And we have a letter from our health insurance offering us (with lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!) that did we know we could get Kids Accidental Cover!!! and would we like to sign up?!!! Spooky timing. Then I looked over the brochure. It was sobering, if I already wasn't (which I was). If your child were to become a quadriplegic, you'd receive $100,000. Paraplegia, $50,000. Many other tragic conditions with many zeros. What caught my eye? "Loss of or permanent and total loss of use of thumb" = $500. Now $500 doesn't sound like much to me to lose arguably your most important digit. Which might explain why there seems to be no coverage for any other loss of the remaining fingers. You lose your middle one? Sorry, nothing. To add to the indignity, you can't even flip the bird anymore. Scandalous. I jest, but gee, after my near miss I don't know what to do! I'm tempted to sign up. If it wasn't so damned expensive. Like everything else in the world.