This morning I finished part four of the I Will Praise Him series I have been working on. I hand wrote the rough draft a couple weeks ago, typed it today and will review it tomorrow and tweak it before I share. After being all in the feels for the better part of this morning, I thought I would share a funny story. It is a quick, unedited story that I hope you will enjoy and relate to!
COVID19 has been a big struggle for most of us. At the beginning of it all we did the social distancing thing for about three months. Two of our college kids came back to stay with us as their college campuses closed. We did not see our other kids and granddaughter at all for the three months we did the shelter in place thing. At about the three month mark my mother in law passed away. It was sudden and felt like a huge wake up call. Chris and I decided that it was worth the risk to see our immediate family. We wanted to be with our kids as we experienced the pain of her loss and we did not want another day to go by without seeing them.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving. With the numbers being so much higher and all of the warnings given about getting together, we went back and forth on what to do this year for the holidays.
Chris decided to make cornhole and life size Jenga. He strung lights and prepared a spot so we would have a great place to meet and things to do outside. Well, of course, it rained the day we chose to gather together.
We did not eat until 6:00 so even though it was already dark by the time we finished eating, we decided to pull the games out and play in the driveway. It had stopped raining so we were good to go.
We had it going on out there. We turned on all of the lights on that side of the house and Jake used his car headlights so we could see. We had people playing Jenga, cornhole, Vera riding her bike and the rest visiting with each other. It was a great time.
It really was like a three ring circus. Vera was riding her bike around it all in circles. At one point she rode close to me and threw down a challenge. She told me I could not catch her and took off. Those of you who know me know that the competitor in me cannot pass up an opportunity like that. I chased her for a lap and we both squealed with joy. Our dog, Sugar, went crazy and wanted to join us in the chase. On my next lap I grabbed her leash from Jake and we took off after Vera. The first half of the lap was great….and then it wasn’t! I am not sure why but Sugar decided to come to a dead stop right in front of me!
Let me remind you that I turned the big 5-0 recently and am not quite as nimble as I once was. I fell, HARD! I landed partly on Sugar and the rest of the way on my knees and my right palm. Being the stubborn girl that I am, I refused to look at my knees until everyone left. I knew there was blood because I could feel my pants sticking to my knees but I was not going to check it out. Of course I insisted to everyone that I was not hurt and to continue on as usual. I had on black pants so no one noticed that I was totally not okay.
After everyone was gone and all of the dishes were in the dishwasher, I surveyed the damage. Both of my knees were bruised and scuffed up but my left was worse than the right. The bruise started above my knee and slowly grew to reach my ankles!
It has been over two weeks since it happened and it still hurts! But, if my sweet Vera is to throw down another challenge in the future, chances are I will rise to it. Okay, maybe not rise to the challenge as that implies capability but I will certainly try! I will, however, not invite my lovely dog to join us no matter how much she begs.
Here’s the difference in my fifty year old self versus my fifteen year old self. My fifteen year old self would have been embarrassed, mad at the dog, and mad at myself. My fifty year old self is so very thankful that I did not break anything, the dog is still alive, and I can laugh at myself and my clumsiness. My fifteen year old self would have dared anyone to laugh at me and my fifty year old self invites you to laugh with me!
How have you and your reactions to difficult experiences changed over the years? I would love to hear your story!
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