“Little children, headache; big children, heartache.”

—  Italian Proverb

When the Beatles entered a room, teenage girls fainted. That has never happened to me …

… until tonight.

Our family walked in the front door of our local shopping mall tonight and before we could get past the entryway, I saw a girl collapse in a heap.

She was standing in front of her father and literally fell over. Not really thinking, I walked right over to her and her father and asked if she was ok. Her father was mildly panicked, so I took a look at the girl and asked if this was expected. It wasn’t. No diabetes. Her mother came up from behind quickly and said she had just been trying on clothes in a hot store. Overheated.

The girl started to come around and looked flush. Clearly she needed water. I went right into the Cheesecake factory, walked behind the counter and asked for something to drink. The waiter got right on it and I was back in less than a minute. The girl had sat up and took some sips. She felt woozy and her stomach hurt. We cleared some people from a bench and got her up onto it.

I talked to her and her mother. Turns out she was 11 and hadn’t eaten all day. Her mother said she doesn’t like to eat. Problem identified. I asked her dad to go get some apple juice from the restaurant so we could get some sugar into her. By the time her dad got back, she was feeling better. After suggesting to her parents that they take her to the pediatrician on Monday, I got up to go. I patted the girl on the shoulder and gave her a smile. “Eat more,” I said. She smiled back and said she would. Her parents thanked me.

The rest of my family had come back by this time and we walked away, talking about what had happened. Feeling relieved, we chuckled that eating has never been, nor ever will be a problem for us.

Having recently completed a first aid class, I was glad that I at least had some some idea what to do, and enough courage to help out tonight. I’m even more glad it wasn’t serious.

If you haven’t recently, take a first aid class. If an accident happens, you won’t need to be faint of heart.

Gave a little first aid to a teenage girl who fainted. … A couple loads of dishes and laundry so my wife didn’t have to … Christmas package preparation … And a whole lot of driving teens and pre-teens to their activities today.