Be Careful What You Pray For

It's a lovely quiet Sunday afternoon here in overcast, ready to rain Victoria. We've had a wonderful break and I can already feeling myself girding up to go back to work tomorrow. It's all good.

But I digress and need to catch you up on the recent festivities of Christmas, travels, and family. As I stated a couple of entries ago our Christmas plans were to travel down the to Bay area of California and spend Christmas with my brothers and their families. It is ALWAYS a fun time with my siblings and their kids - and I mean ALWAYS. I rarely laugh as hard or as long normally as I do with them. They bring out a side of me that others rarely see, and I often miss myself.

But to back up even a little bit more .... when I get around my family something strange and wonderful takes over me. I very easily get carried away and leave my husband in the dust. The excitement of being with them, and the ensuing fun that will be had makes me lose sight of my husbands more reserved nature. I don't mean to, but I end up 'thinking' he's carried up and away just like I am, when in fact he's barely treading water.

So when the invitation was given to us my husbands one request was to not leave him on the curb. With this in my mind, and knowing my propensities I asked a close girlfriend of mine to pray for me over the holidays. Pray that I would be ever mindful of my husband and his needs for my attention over the course of our time with my ever exuberant family.

Tim and I departed on the morning of the 23rd. We had a 15+ hour drive ahead of us split up over two days. Typical west coast it was overcast and dreary, but knowing there was a family reunion less than 48 hours in my future the day could not have shone brighter. The ferry was uneventful, but the roads were busy once we got the wheels rolling again. I always feel like the longest part of any trip is the time spent on the ferry and getting through Vancouver. This trip was no different.

The Interstate 5 through Washington state was equally as uneventful as the ferry, but once we hit the Washington / Oregon border fog descended and stayed. In fact, it stayed right until we hit the Oregon / California border - and then the fog lifted and we could see our surroundings again.

We stopped for the night in Southerlin, Oregon far to far away from California for my liking, but basically half way. Back on the road again, speeding south we finally made it to the Oregon / California border by approximately noon. Just a few short miles north of Weed, California we stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs and divest our bodies of unwanted fluids.

At most Rest Areas I like to seek out a map of the area and see just how far we've come, how far we've got to go, and figure out where the heck we are in the grand scheme of things. And at most U.S. rest areas in particular, there are informative signs with maps, and local flora and fauna.

Although Weed is a higher elevation than we had been crossing over, the temperature was hovering just at freezing. We had not seen much snow, rare skiffs along the side of the highway, but generally clear of ice. That being said, as I walked towards the information board my right foot came in contact with what I have deemed to be the only icy patch in all of California in December 2009. My right foot went left, my ankle went right, and the rest of me followed my toes - and I went down hard. It all happened in a blink of an eye. Slow motion in my brain, an image popped into my brain of my ankle now being in a pretzel shape like in the cartoons. But the pain it was feeling was far from funny.

Praise God, but I didn't hear any pop or crack - other than my pride crumbling as only humans can do when they take an indiscriminate tumble. However, this time - I didn't bounce back up and pretend like nothing happened. Something happened, and I knew that I was not just going to be able to walked this on off.

Wincing I hobbled back to the car, and tried to assure Tim that I was going to live and that we would make it to my brothers before nightfall. I was determined that this was just mind over matter, and if I pretended that nothing was wrong - then nothing would be wrong. Darn it!

A further hour and a half down the road we stopped again at a rest area. And I finally braved a look at the ankle. It was hot, it was swollen, and already starting to bruise up. I convinced Tim that although I DID NOT want to find a hospital or a clinic - it was Christmas Eve for goodness sake - that we should find a pharmacy and get a cold pack and a tensor bandage. Which we did.

I propped myself up in the back seat to elevate the leg and ankle. For the next several minutes Tim and I took turns trying to get the "instant cold-pack" started. You just had to find the little package of catalyst inside the bag and pop it. This proved to be almost hilarical - if I hadn't been in so much discomfort. Neither one of us could pop it and our minds kept trying to convince ourselves that the packet was getting colder. It wasn't.

Finally I hit the right spot and icy coldness flooded the bag and I applied it, wrapped into the tensor, to my ankle.

And we carried on and arrived at my brothers place around 8pm. Gimping from embrace to wonderful familial embrace Christmas arrived, and we were with the people who mean the most to me in this world.

Safely landed on terra-firma I created a spot for myself on the couch and kept the foot raised, wrapped, and iced for the next several days. We had a marvellous time of laughing, drinking, playing games, opening presents, and generally enjoying each others company to the fullest.

God answered my (and my girlfriends) prayers in an extraordinary way. I was forced to slow down and appreciate my husband and my family in a less than hectic manner. Never leaving him in the dust, but rather encouraging his own interaction with people that cared as much for him as I do. And I am thankful on so many levels.

Once returning to Victoria I sought out a doctor who sent me for x-rays. Nothing serious showed up. Today - 11 days later - my ankle is doing better although I'm still limping somewhat, and a little ginger for fear of doing it again, but know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I rest in the palm of my makers hand.

I hope and pray that Christmas and New Year were equally as special for you. Happy 2010 dear readers.