Hurtin' on the Holiday
On December 22, I slipped in the bathroom and bruised my back. I am recovering fairly quickly.
December 22 was the last day of work before Christmas. Since Christmas was on Sunday this year, the library closed Dec 23 & 24 for the holiday. On Thursday evening, just before going to bed I was sitting on the bathroom counter so that I could use the magnifying mirror to floss my teeth. The thought had occurred to me several different days that that was a precarious position, but I kept on doing it. Well, this time as I was slipping down from the counter, I really slipped down. My foot must have not been quite under me. I thought as I was going down, that I could catch myself on the toilet, but next thing I knew I was lying on my side on the floor. It was hard to catch my breath, and then it started hurting.
I thought that I had been hit by the long side of the bathroom stool (which is there for grandchildren to stand on). I'm pretty sure now from the shape of the bruise that I caught a corner of it instead. I was hurting badly enough that we went to the emergency room, where xrays showed probably no broken bones (ribs may not show all cracks). So I got a prescription for some pain pills and a muscle relaxant. And went home.
I had already arranged a trip to Medieval Times for the family for December 23. There was no way that I could drive, but I was determined to go. It was a wonderful evening. THE WHOLE FAMILY CAME. WE GOT A FAMILY PORTRAIT (or at least the snapshot Medieval Times took for us). Meggan drove for us, and in the car were Dave and I, Chris, Meggan and Maude and Annie and Lex. I actually enjoyed the drive most of the time. The show was really fun. I was glad to be sitting next to Charli who was fascinated by the horses. Well, actually, I was sitting next to Nikki, but Charli spent a lot of time in her lap. The red knight threw a flower to Charli and to Kyrie who was also sitting next to me. Charli loved the show EXCEPT when the fighting began, then she started saying, "No fighting, be nice!" Down at another table I understand Vee was saying that the green knight was "not a nice guy" because of what he did to our red knight. I think my granddaughters may understand that what's on TV is not real, but I'm not sure they understood that the tournament was just pretend.
On December 24, Dave took me to do some last minute Christmas shopping. We only went to Barnes & Noble, but that was enough. I got what I really needed and went home.
On Christmas day, Dave drove to Grand Prairie where we went to church with Ian, Nikki and Charli. All of my children were together again for Christmas. I love that. It doesn't make sense that it can happen every year, but it's nice that so often it does happen. Meggan wanted to go home earlier than we did, and Dave wasn't really ready to drive all the way back home, so Siouxsie volunteered to drive us home; Rob would follow and take her home from our house. It worked out very well, and I got a visit with Siouxsie besides. Lex came home with us.
I'm glad Marianne has a job, but it means that she now has less time for Lex. He spends so much more time with his Dad now. I can't say any more; my heart still hurts. ANYWAY, Lex got to spend Monday, Tuesday and almost all of Wednesday with us. On Monday I tried driving for the first time; just went to the library to work on timesheets. Working the steering wheel was not as painful as I had expected it to be, positioning the rearview mirror and shifting gears were bad. Luckily the van is automatic, so I was always stopped when doing those two activities. Tuesday, Lex and I went to the Gainesville zoo. Walking around I think was actually good for my back. Wednesday, we did a lot of errands in Denton. We recycled cardboard, etc, but we had one piece of cardboard left that Lex used for sliding down the face of the little dam at North Lakes Park. The miniature village exhibit was closed, but I think Lex enjoyed his time at the park instead. Some kids let him join their game with some kind of laser tag guns; he really enjoyed that. I sure love that boy. I also think that being active with him was good therapy for my recovering back.
Well, today is New Year's Day. My vacation will be over on Tuesday. My back is almost back to normal. I still have trouble getting comfortable at night, and today I discovered that taking a deep breath to sing was still quite painful. I don't think that I'll have much trouble at work, though. The Lord really plans things well. The accident he warned me about, I was able to recover from without missing work, AND next time He sends me a thought repeatedly, maybe I'll listen quicker.
For instance, lately I've been feeling that I spend too much time playing Sudoku and Paint-by-number. I think He wants me to do something else instead.