a survivor

When we all reach a certain timeframe in our lives, we tend to start complaining more and more about the aging process. When I woke up yesterday, I had a different view or attitude about it. I am sure that it is just temporary. In looking back over the years, I have realized that I feel proud, a little surprised and blessed that I have made it this far. That is not to say there were no close calls or challenges along the way, like that time…

• During a neighborhood baseball game in our backyard in Kentucky when I was around six years old. I was the catcher. TM was next up to bat. Her bat connected with the ball and she slung it so that it then connected with my top lip and teeth. Even back then, I was more concerned about following the rules than I was about the pain. I was arguing my case in front of my mother that TM should have been called out by whoever was umpiring at the time. My mother was a little more interested in stopping the blood coming from my mouth.
  
  
• In that same neighborhood when I rode a bike for the first time without training wheels and ended up in the drainage ditch at the bottom of the hill.
  
  
• Still in that neighborhood when I crossed the busy street (insert chuckle) when my father told me to stay in our yard. Uh, my friends were across the street having the time of their lives and so I had to join them. I was actually more scared of the repercussions of my actions than getting hit by a car.
  
  
• In the full basement of a different house in Kentucky when my brother tried to kill me knock me off my skates with a red Hoppity Hop^®. I did not die, but felt like I was going to as I lay on the bed to wait for my father to get home. While waiting, I was listening to him on a local radio station praying for those who were sick and in pain. “Like your daughter!” I screamed at the radio.
  
  
• At Kentucky Lake when I fell from a very tall tree…oh wait…that was one of my brother’s close calls.
  
  
• In Niagara Falls when my parents misplaced me for a bit.
  
  
• In Memphis when my cousin and I got lost in a sketchy part of Memphis after a concert. There was a firefighter’s strike with a curfew that we missed. Again, a bit more concerned about the repercussions when we got home to find my parents on the front porch. This was prior to cell phones.
  
  
• In Memphis when my house mate started a burner with a pan of Crisco and went outside for something. A few moments later, I was left to scramble around in my brain for the things to do when faced with a grease fire. I cornmealed that sucker.
  
  
• In a suburb of Memphis when I walked into the plate glass window of a laundromat and cut my legs up because my brother selfishly wanted the keys to listen to the radio in the car. I lost my bearings when I tossed the keys to him and turned to hit the window with my knee, thus causing it to crash down and cut me in several places. My brother had to wait with the clothes in the laundromat with a mean lady while my mother took me to the emergency room…oh wait, this is all backwards. I was the selfish one who dealt with the mean lady. This was another of my brother’s close calls.
  
  
• In Memphis when MB and I endlessly skateboarded down my parents' rather steep driveway that fed into a busy road, managing sharp turns left or right onto the sidewalk. It was prior to helmets and elbow/knee guards. I think both sets of parents must have been at work or just glad we were playing outside.
  
  
• In Atlanta when another car (my view was blocked by a line of cars) pulled in front of me when I was cruising down the turn lane. The only thing that may have saved me from injuries was the fact that the Honda CRX I was driving was built like a tiny tank. It was a driving hazard since it was black and tiny and hard to see darting through slowly going with the flow of the traffic.
  
  
• Rafting down the Colorado River from one end of the Grand Canyon to the other. I counted three close calls during that trip, two involved water and the other involved the lack of enough water (aka heat stroke).
  
  
• In Beijing when I had no knowledge of the items I was eating and a masseuse almost beat me to death since there was a communication issue and I could not explain that she was being too rough.
  
  
• In Singapore when I was offered a chance to participate in Horizontal Bungee Jumping. I smartly declined.
  
  
• In Northern Ireland when I walked across the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge with the Irish breeze a blowin’. And…I had to do it twice since there was no other way to go back to where we began the journey.
  
  
• In Nashville when my doctor was not sure that I had appendicitis, but I followed his advice to go to the emergency room.
  
  
• In Nashville when the condo I lived in almost killed me made my allergies go into overdrive with its air and later a fire started in a nearby building during a windy night.

There are probably even more events that I made myself forget along the way, but I am sure I lost most of my readers after bulleted event #5 anyway. No major health issues, but I still feel like a survivor. Hootihoo! (I learned that expression of excitement in the Grand Canyon between my near-death experiences).