Time is Precious

It's funny how time seems to pass so quickly that you don't notice.  Sometimes things that you wanted to do pass you by and you can't do them any more.

When I was in my twenties, I worked with a rather remarkable little woman.  She was about my mother's age and life had not treated her kindly. Angela had emigrated from Germany when she was not much younger than I was, following the death of her parents. She had a light but noticable German accent and similar to me, she had a difficult marriage to a very difficult man. They had two children together, a son and a daughter, who were both around my age.  When her youngest was still in a stroller, she was struck in the street by a car while crossing the street with him.  Thankfully the stroller was thrown clear, but she suffered (like me) through multiple surgeries and ended up with a quite noticable limp as one of her legs ended up being over an inch shorter than the other. And while she was going through this, her husband disappeared to whereabouts unknown, leaving her with two children to support, and very little income to do it on.

Four Years...to the Day

Four years ago today (December 15th), I had a very bad car accident.  I've written about it before:

• I Am NOT a Survivor
• Every Day is a Gift
• Thriving through Post Traumatic Stress
• Enjoy the Sun!

Writing about it has given me some peace.  I struggle internally sometimes - because I don't like to be seen as week.  Sometimes I hold it in.  Like today.  I was in the car before I remembered the day and it's significance.  On the highway.  With my husband driving.

Enjoy the Sun!

I was just reading another fantastic blog by my friend Kimberly at "All Work and No Play Make Mommy Go Something Something" (I reviewed her blog here.)  Her blog today is entitled "Mr. Sun", and she suggests: 

"I hate hearing people say “You shouldn’t be doing that” or “I thought that you couldn’t handle things like that” and it pisses me off. Just because my back is an asshole that doesn’t mean that I “can’t” do things or “shouldn’t” do things. I have good days and I take advantage of them. Life keeps keeping on just like I do. I am looking forward to all of this sun this weekend."

It certainly struck a chord with me.  As you all may know, I had a bad car accident a little over three years ago.  My leg was broken in over four places.  My knee was shattered.  I had seven hours in surgery three days after the accident, and then two more surgeries after that.  I was off my feet for over three months after the accident, and then two more months with the other two surgeries.  The surgeons did their best - but like Humpty Dumpty, my leg will never be the same.

Every Day is a Gift

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I've been in a bad car accident.  My leg was broken rather severely.  My femur was split in two - I have a big metal rod inside it now that knit it back together.  My knee cap was broken into five different pieces.  The surgeons strung it back together with wire.  I broke my fibula (that little bone at the back of your calf).  A piece of my foot sheered off and lodged in the tendons of my foot.

Lesser people would have been completely crippled by such an accident.  I know a woman who slipped on snow in a bank parking lot, broke her ankle, was in a cast for five weeks and never worked again.  She retreated into her house, rarely goes out, has very few friends and in general became a shell of her former self.  

I'll Love You Forever

Over each of my children's beds is the quote from Robert Munsch's most popular book:

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, My baby you'll be."

Learning to Dance in the Rain

A couple of summers back we experienced what they called a once in a hundred years storm. 

The skies opened up and dumped so much rain on us that roads were washed out, basements were flooded – and there wasn’t a thing we could do about it even if we’d known it was coming.

I remember that day distinctly.  I had my children at home and was taking care of my niece for the day. 

It had been pretty hot, and I’d promised them that we could go swimming at a local pool. 

There was a break in the rain, so we headed out. 

However, it turned out that the roads were flooded, and because of the storm, they’d closed the outdoor pool anyway, so we went back to my house.  The kids were pretty deflated.