This blog chronicles my life as I try to balance healthy lifestyle habits with my husband's penchant for pizza rolls and my daughter's desire to watch iCarly 8 hours a day. It contains a mostly humorous, kind, and somewhat spiritual look at everyday life and the people who live it.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

...and that's why I have a prosthetic finger!

We went roller skating on Sunday. I am a very good roller skater. In Toledo there was a 12 mi round trip trail that I skated on daily. I usually did all 12 miles. Did I mention I'm a good skater? In the '70s when I was in school I faithfully attended every skating trip our school offered. I logged endless hours in my basement, stirring up the dust as I went round and round and round. I begged for my own skates and cut my teeth on the metal adjustable kind that need a skate key and are guaranteed to face-plant you as you navigate the seams in the sidewalk. I finally graduated to the boot-type and thought I was the queen of Egypt. Good times, good times.

As part of her search for a new best friend, my daughter asked if we could take her and a classmate skating. No problem, Steve and I like to skate. We pick up classmate and go to skating rink. I love skating rinks: the disco ball, the oh-so-cool-skating-referee-in-his-black-and-white-shirt-trying-to-look-not-embarrassed, the middle-aged roller queen wearing spandex and neon, the little kids in Fisher-Price plastic skates pinwheeling madly as their wobbly parents try to help them, the smell of scorched popcorn and sweat, the ringing of the arcade, the garbled PA announcements -- the roller rink has something for everyone. I was blithely skating along when the garbled announcement (are they even speaking English?) crackled something about a limbo contest. I hadn't had a skating limbo contest since 1982! I immediately skated to the center of the rink, lined up and prepared to limbo. First round: no problem. Second round: confidence up, I glided beneath that bar with panache if I do say so myself. Third round: a little less panache, a little more grunting, but I cleared the bar. Fourth round: grunting, sweating, trying to suck fat roll in so I can get lower, barely cleared the bar. Fifth round: disaster! Had too much speed, wasn't low enough, crashed into bar, bar went flying, I went sprawling and somehow, in all that mayhem, I managed to roll over my pinkie finger.

Fast forward about 2 hours: finger is throbbing. Finger is black. Finger is so swollen and shiny that I wonder if a finger can burst. I worry that I'll lose that nail.

Fast forward another 2 hours: finger is a dusky blackish-gray. Forget about the nail, I wonder if I'll lose that finger! I have trouble sleeping because I see explosions of stars everytime finger is touched by blanket.

Current update: finger is still attached, blackness is giving way to purpleness. Hitting the 'A' key on the keyboard is an exercise in pain. I think I'll live.

Did I mention that Steve won the limbo contest?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Three cheers for a mom with the guts to stay-at-home. It takes courage and insanity!

I know because I did it until my last daughter was in high school. Then I went back to school and got my degree.

I loved staying home and being there for my kids every moment (even those I wish I could forget). I remember being shunned by working moms who said "Oh, you don't work" - like it was some type of disease. Let me tell you staying home is a heck of a lot harder than working outside the home.

Plus who do working moms think help out at schools to volunteer to help kids with reading and math as well as other subjects that they just can't seem to get.

My house was often a mess but my family knew they could count on me to be there ever step of the way. After 30 years of a fabulous marriage, 4 kids, and 5 grandkids that still love me, trust me, and depend on me - well let me just say that is the best Thank you/Award I can ever hope to get.

Thanks for sharing - glad to know there is another real human being out there!

Chellie said...

Wow. I was going to post a comment about how hilarious your post about skating was, but boy, the first comment put me to shame! However, with me being your BFF, you hear those kudos from me all the time, right? RIGHT???

Anyway, I loved the skating post. It was like you were describing the rink that we go to here is Ohio, and I am sure my own dear hubby would empathize with you since he busted his tailbone so badly last winter due to skating!