How I almost lost Maria in 3 seconds

3rd of January 2015, alone with our two stubborn girls, sharing a single wooden sled on what should have been a funny sledding round in the woods.

We found a safe and fun slope, perfect for Ilaria, but too scary for Maria. All Maria wanted to do was to pull the sled's rope and take a walk like this. Negotiation excluded - she's too stubborn for any negotiation. Now she was heading a big slope (I didn't know exactly how big and how long), pulling the sled's rope. Me: "Don't go there, is too dangerous for you!", thinking in the meantime: "She will find out it's too much for her and she will be back in no time.". Negotiation excluded. Then she disappeared, still pulling the sled's rope. 3 seconds later I went to check on her and I saw Maria ON the sled, sliding with high speed on what it seemed a never ending slope, feet first, on her back, like the bobsleigh athletes are doing. Except she is 3.25 years old only, sliding on a massive sled, in the woods, between trees, with zero chances to control the sled and zero courage or idea to jump off of it! Behind her, me, her helpless mother, running like crazy, with zero chances to reach her and desperately calling her name as never before. It was my scariest 50 meters run and then she disappeared from my line of sight, down, between trees. 2-3 seconds later I saw her crying, still on the sled, in big snow, on a cellar's roof's edge. An image I only seen in movies so far and I was always thinking "Yea, right! Thank you for reminding me I'm just watching a movie, as in reality it never happens to stop on the edge, but you always fall". But no, it happened also to us in real life to be lucky beyond any hope! We were blessed, as there she was, staying on the sled, on the edge of a cellar's roof 2-2.3 meters high. I shouted again like crazy "Don't move! Don't move! Stay there! Wait for me!", as she usually has unforeseeable reactions. I grabbed her and then I automatically rose my eyes toward the sky for the 3rd time in my life. (it's an instinctive reaction I have, that surprises me every time when I watch the sky like this). "Thank you God and your entire army of angels for doing this to us!"

And then I hugged and kissed the girls, we cried tears of frustration, anger, shock, relief, joy, I scolded Maria for not obeying my advises and I swore I will never ever let them do what they want or go sledding alone with them again. As if from now on I will be in total control over their little lives and we will live happily ever after... How easy and nice life would be!
(I am not the kind of over-protective mom. Regarding kids I have a slowness in reactions, even in case of danger. It's already known that more probably kids would hurt themselves in my company than in Adrian's. I want to make kids responsible on their actions. I let them learn lessons out of their own mistakes, and sometimes this is a very dangerous habit.)

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