Klutz

It's been a challenging start of the year for me as I've had a couple klutz-y moments that have proven painful, embarrassing and annoying.  Although these are bummer experiences, I've found ways to laugh at myself and I thought it would be good to record them on the blog so we can look back and chuckle at my gracefulness. 

A couple weeks ago James and I were skiing with his parents.  I had to go to bathroom so I left them to do another run.  We were at Stevens Pass.  There is a hill you have to walk up to get the lodge which can be pretty tricky in ski boots.  So I thought it would be easier to take the rope tow up the hill.  Now to be fair I haven't ridden on a rope tow since I was a kid learning how to ski.  But I thought "How hard can it be?"  I grabbed on to the rope.  My arm moved with the rope but my body didn't follow.   The rope yanked my arm hard and I fell forward on my face.  With deep embarrassment and pain I struggled to finally get on my feet at which point I noticed that my arm was radiating pain.  I luckily was able to finish out the day skiing after some Advil.  But I knew clearly I did some damage to my arm because for the next couple of days I couldn't even raise it to brush my hair (it's my right arm).  Most of the pain was in my shoulder.  I went to see an orthopedic doctor who thought it a good idea to get an MRI.  So far the MRI results have shown nothing wrong with my rotator cuff or muscles, ligaments or tendons around the shoulder so that's good.  And my shoulder is steadily getting better every day.  They did see a small crack in the ball of the shoulder joint so it could be a bone bruise or a small fracture.  I go back to the doctor in a couple weeks to assess next steps.  Needless to say I probably will never be going on a rope tow ever again.  :(

Then just a couple days ago I was putting a rubber bin back in our car.  We keep that bin in there all the time and to prevent it from sliding around, we hook it in with a bungee cord.  I went to hook the bungee cord and it didn't grasp on to the anchor, but instead snapped back and hit me in the face really hard.  It's a pretty nasty bruise as you will see below.  Luckily I've been able to cover it up with makeup pretty good just so I don't shock people.  

As you'll see in my next post I've been doing some spiritual/personal work in finding joy.  These two recent experiences have challenged me in this.  But here are some "look on the bright side" aspects:

*Both injuries could have been way worse.  I could have broken a leg skiing or really damaged my arm.  The bungee cord could have hit my eye instead of my face
*I now have total empathy for people who have large birth marks or noticeable unique features that might cause people to stop and stare.  I will be much more cognizant of how I react when I notice things like that on people in the future
*Experiences like this always make me realize that I take health and normal body functioning for granted.  Every day is an opportunity to really thank God for good health because it is a true blessing

The healing process continues...not just for my injuries but also for my bruised pride.