it's a hard knock life

A friend recently reminded me of one of these stories. It made me laugh so I thought I’d share…

I’ve only had a few injuries in my life. Two of them come to mind right now and neither of them were serious. I wish I could say that I injured myself while doing something cool…but I can’t. Instead, I just label these as “sports injuries” to avoid the actual true and embarrassing stories of how they occurred. I’m not sure why I’ve decided to post this on the Internet.

The first story takes place during my freshman year of high school. A friend of mine convinced me to try out for the cheerleading team. If you know me then you understand why this is so embarrassing. I was the girl who made fun of the cheerleaders. I am not the "cheerleader type" and I can’t imagine myself cheering from any place else other than in the stands as a spectator. Well, I went through the whole cheerleading camp week where you learn the routine and practice every day. It then came time for the try-outs. We had to run out onto the gym floor by ourselves and go through the routine. I didn’t get very far. I was running into the gym towards my place in front of the coach and other judges. The last thing I remember is hearing a loud snap. When I woke up I was lying on my back with a bunch of people standing over me. I had dislocated my knee cap doing nothing more than taking a few steps into the gymnasium! My dad came to pick me up thinking that my injuries weren’t as bad they were. So he took me home and ate dinner. I was very upset with him over this. My version of the story is that he took me home first because my mom had cooked that night and he didn’t want to have to re-heat his dinner later on. He will probably tell you differently. But since this is my blog I’m going with my version. I sat on the chair with my leg propped up and cried as loud as I could until he took me to the hospital. Long story short…I ended up having to wear a brace on my leg for a few months and take physical therapy for my knee. I could not play any sports my freshman year. So during basketball season I was the team manager rather than a player. Did you know you can letter in being a team manager? At least you can in Oregon. I am so proud of that “MGR” patch on my letterman jacket!

My second injury happened this past year. It was the middle of the week and I woke up early. As I got out of bed to head to the shower I hit my toes on the bedroom door. I didn’t realize that the door was partly closed. It hurt and I heard something pop. At this point I screamed a word that I am not proud of and nearly started crying. I must not have screamed loud enough to wake up the roommates though. They never came to check on me. I finished getting ready and drove to the office. My car is a stick shift and it was extremely painful to push the clutch in with my left foot. Luckily I worked in a clinic and was able to walk upstairs and see a doctor. He confirmed that, yes, my toes were broken. I had to tape my toes together and wear a special shoe until it healed. The shoe was ugly…royal blue with a white rubber sole and huge velcro straps across the top. It really didn't go with any of my clothes. I also had to trade cars with a friend of mine until my toes healed enough to use a clutch again.

I guess I should feel lucky that my injuries, up to this point, have only been minor. I just wish I had a good story to go along with them.