Sledgehammer

Jessica Kaufman

I got hit in the head with a sledgehammer, the text from her boyfriend read. I’m at the hospital, but I’m fine now.  

English teacher Jessica Kaufman was in the middle of teaching a class on a Friday afternoon when she received the message. She instantly felt ice cold panic rush through her veins. As soon as her class finished, she rushed to the hospital where the doctor and her boyfriend’s mother filled her in. 

Her boyfriend of barely one year at the time had been hit with the sledgehammer at work — he worked in construction — and had minor bleeding in his brain. The doctors decided to keep him at the hospital overnight for another CT scan and further observation. Kaufman stayed by his side through the weekend, doing her best to take care of him. 

The next week, a couple days after she and her boyfriend returned to work, one of her students delivered flowers to her from her boyfriend. Kaufman was astonished — she’d never received flowers at work before.

“The flowers [had] a little card saying, ‘Thank you so much for taking care of me and for being there,’” Kaufman said. “Taking care of him was just something I never thought about, I just did, because I care about him and that’s what you do when somebody gets hit in the head with a sledgehammer — you take care of them. You don’t leave them on their own. It was just a moment where he made me feel really special and really cared for.”