The horse galloped down the field, joyfully ignoring the ever increasing pressure of the reins. She had finally been allowed to run and she wasn't going to be convinced to slow down just because her rider wanted her too. Oops, here was a corner, but she could make it. Slowing only slightly, she charged between the two outbuildings, her rider managing to make the turn with her. She made out the line of a fence not far in front of her and began to plan for another change of direction. The rider held on, waiting for the next turn, planning to make her move to stop the horse then. The horse, still running, began to turn. But suddenly, the ground beneath her hoofs was no longer the soft turf of a mowed hayfield. Too late, she realized that concrete does not offer the same traction for metal-shod hooves. She slipped, falling, sending her rider skidding across the expanse of pavement.
The rider gathered her scattered senses and sat up. "Stupid horse!" She put her head to her hand and then studied it, noting that not only was her face bleeding, but her pinky finger was in an unnatural shape. Still, as none of her wounds appeared life-threatening, she got to her feet.
Yes, this was me, a week ago tomorrow. My mom was riding with me and we weren't far from home, so my dad was able to quickly take me to the emergency room. They discovered that my finger was indeed broken, but that the rest of my injuries mostly looked like scrapes and bruises - not serious. They set the finger, gave me a tetanus shot, and then decided that the break should be treated like an open fracture as there was a cut on that finger...They took me into surgery, cleaned up the wound, put two pins in to help insure straight healing, wrapped me up, and sent me home.
So the last week has seen me do not much. Partly because it hurt to move and I didn't have full use of either hand. It's been rather inconvenient. Still, in spite of the pain and annoyance of limitations, I have been constantly reminded of how much I have to be thankful for.
1. That it wasn't worse. The horse could have fallen on me. I could have been wearing less protective clothing. I could have landed differently. All in all, a broken finger and some bruises are really not too bad.
2. Guidance. Since finding out that I won't be able to return to Israel for quite a bit longer I've sort of been at a loss. What to do in the mean time? I have found a few things to do, but I was beginning to look into a few other options...which are now no longer options because of this broken finger. At least for now. This may be a strange thing to be thankful for, but I am. I suppose it may be because I'm really bad at making decisions - and now here are a couple things that I no longer have to decide about.
3. A chance to learn empathy. Some people have far worse injuries, far worse pain, some of it permanent. Hopefully I can learn to treat them with more kindness and understanding.
4. New piercings. Well, I'd sort of been thinking about piercing SOMETHING. I mean, ya know, it's the cool thing to do. No need now. TWO pins in my finger. Yeah, and you thought a pierced nose was cool? Well, I have a pierced finger. Be jealous.
And now, just because I'm weird and think it's kind of cool...here is a slide show with a few rather blurry pictures of my injuries. Feel free to skip it. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment