And sometimes you have to have surgery because of them. Which is always a blast. Here's how it started...
...29 years ago I was a 20-year-old college sophomore. There are very few regrets I have from my college days. One of them happened in mid-April 1992.
We were coming out of winter & in Alabama that consists of dreary, cold, rainy days that get dark way too early. Very rarely do we get snow because of how far south we are. (If we are threatened with the dreaded 'S' word, everything shuts down and good luck finding bread or milk anywhere in town.) Snow is fun, snow makes people happy. Cold rain makes no one happy. Cold rain makes this southern girl want to curl up in front of the fire in her pjs & some hot chocolate. I need the green & warmth of spring. I need birds chirping & longer days. Beautiful April. This April was one of those days that's in the low 80's & makes everyone assume spring has come. In reality, southerners know we are going to have one or two more cold snaps before summer descends like a wool blanket in a sauna. It's just how life is around here. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, beautiful April day. Not a cloud to be found, bluebird sky & warm. You know what goes perfect with those three things? Lake trip.
I'm thinking to myself, class or lake, lake or class? Class? What class? The lake is calling & I must go! Skiing, swimming, inner tubing, jumping off of really high rocks...and that's where the questionable choice comes in.
I should have gone to class, but you make choices & you live with them. I went to the lake. We had a great time. The water was cold, but I'm 20 & I don't care. No one was on the lake because it was a Wednesday, I'll get to why I remember that in a bit. The group takes a boat trip to a place called Chimney Rock. CR has several points to jump off. 1. Chicken Rock is = to a 1-meter board (your regular diving board) 2. Chimney Rock is = a little higher than a 3-meter board (a regular high dive) & 3. Acapulco Rock is = a 10- meter platform. All the guys in the boat wanted to jump off the highest rock. Of course they did, they're college guys. They climbed to the top & looked over the edge, and when they noticed how high it was they mentioned they didn't want to jump. I'm looking at it thinking "I could jump off that, it's not THAT high." Would someone please, for the love of all that is good & holy, give my inner voice some chocolate so she will shut up? Get behind me Satan. Gracious. So I look at the others in the boat & off we swim to begin our climb.
Now, from the boat, Acapulco Rock does not look that high. Um, it's high, like really high. As people were jumping off, it would take them 3-5 seconds to hit the water. That's a long way up or down in this case. I'm one of the last to go. I look over the edge & remember thinking how stupid I am. I should have stayed in the dang boat, but there's only one way down, so I launch myself off a perfectly stable rock. Yikes, it felt like it took forever to hit the water. Side note here: I'm a dancer or a former dancer, and if I'm in the air, my body should be tight & toes pointed. If you're going to be in the air you should at least look pretty. I found out, it's more than about looks. (that's always how it is, isn't it?) When you watch professional cliff divers, they go into the water with their feet flexed. It helps break the water open. Yeah, critical error there. Down, down, down I go hurtling quickly towards the water...
(If you look at the picture above, Chicken Rock is on the far left, the middle rock that has the dip in the middle is Chimney & the far right tip-top is Acapulco.)
As I hit the water, my right leg bends outwards, and all I remember feeling is that I need to surface as quickly as possible because I'm injured. I pop up to whoops & clapping and my friends telling me I had a perfect entry. In reality, I'm lucky I didn't lose my bathing suit along with hurting myself. I swim one-legged to the boat & let them know I've done something to my knee. We finish out the afternoon & head back to Auburn because it's Wednesday & most sororities have chapter on Wednesday. I had one better, formal chapter. By the end, my knee was swollen & I couldn't stand on it. I get some friends to take me to the ER & they splint it. Not too helpful, but it will work until I can get to the orthopaedist. I end up needing surgery because I had a tear in my meniscus. What joy is mine.
Fast forward 29 years...
...I'm 49 and trying not to be fat & frumpy. It's a struggle. I still love to dance even though the right knee isn't as strong as she once was because of previously said choices. But when the music is going I feel it through my soul, and I have to move. I adore my Zumba & Hip Hop instructors. The problem is, there are days I still think I'm 20. I think my body can still move & shake like it did when I was 20. Well, while trying to keep up with real 22-year-olds in class, I tore my right meniscus in 2 places. For the love, can't a girl just enjoy her workout? Don't ask me when I did it because I have no idea. What I do know is that it hurts, and this hurts worse as a 49-year-old than as a 20-year-old. The only advantage is that I don't have to hobble to class & explain that it happened while I was at the lake, skipping class. Again, making choices & living with the consequences.
I had surgery Monday & am recouping. Ice and Advil are two wonderful things. (having Hopson nagging me to make good choices has been helpful too. I'm very stubborn & will .) The thing that hurt my pride the most was having to wear a 'fall risk' bracelet. Is it bad taste to say that pride goes before the fall??? (I'm not too punny, but you have to admit that's funny.) I started thinking I just need to keep it on all the time. Goodness knows I've fallen several times this year & embarrassed the fool out of myself. I decided to tuck it into my bible instead. To remember how much God has helped me along this journey of life & how He's always there to help me up when I fall, which I do often.
But, today I'm so thankful. Thankful for a great doctor (who prayed with me before surgery) & that medicine has advanced a lot in 29 years. Thankful for family & friends who laugh at and with me and love me no matter how much I'm falling apart. Well, I need to stand up because my hip is getting stiff & it's time to take a turn about the room. ;)
Hoping for a speedy recovery & that I'm back to dancing in no time,
~ashley
PS - my knee looks like a face with the stitches in. I have a picture of it below, but if you don't want to look, you don't have to.
