Entry for June 24, 2008 ~ Had Enough Yet?

There are many things that can happen to a person, to a family, in a lifetime. Many of them are good, many can be bad. There are more than alot of good things that have happened to me and my family in the 30+ years that Mike & I have been married. I am grateful for all of them; they have shown me God's will for my life, and I have tried to always go with His flow...
But even tho' the good things far outnumber the bad, there are a few bad things that seem to come up with a certain regularity here that even a slow-poke like me here can not help but notice.
That is the accidental nature of the broken bone.
I have probably blogged about my own broken leg no less than half a dozen times since it first happened, but there have been many more in my life ~ all of which, unfortunately, have happened to my family members...and I don't even know if I am remembering them all!
And when I think back to all the times I have taken a tumble myself, well then......I find it hard to believe that this is the first time I've broken anything, but there it is! Maybe that's why I broke two bones at once, eh? ...kinda like making up for lost time...
Anyway, here it is:
When the children were very small, we had a wading pool in the backyard and they, along with their cousin, were splashing around in it one hot afternoon. I watched them having a great time, and this went on for about a half an hour, until an argument broke out between Paul and his cousin Drew. The two of them had both climbed out of the pool and had moved to another part of the yard, where there was a pile of bricks that had not been put away yet, left over from a home improvement project. Drew picked up a brick and came after Paul, and before I could catch him, he had thrown it into the water, hitting my daughter Laura on her foot, breaking her big toe.
Fast forward about four years. We were now living in the suburbs, where we are now, and Theresa & Laura were out riding their bikes. Somehow T had lost her balance and fell on her wrist, breaking it in two places.
Again, back to Laura. The same day of a minor oral surgery, the doctor cautioned her to take it easy, right? Only for one day, let the medication wear off...no problem, doc! So, two cousins came over to visit, and I left the girls out in the front yard to quietly visit. In the middle of fixing dinner, I looked out the door to check on them ~ saw them sitting down on the lawn in a circle ~ playing a hand game. So, I went back inside...and not more than five minutes later, two of them came running into the house, screaming about how they were doing cartwheels ......CARTWHEELS?! ...and Laura, still shaky from the surgery, had fallen over, and now she couldn't move her arms! So, out I went, saw that she could not even lift herself up, ran back in and called for help. Off to the hospital, to find out that she had fractured her collarbone! "What did we tell you about playing quietly?!?"
Onward and upward...
Paul was working a part-time job while in school, as an assistant foreman in a plastics factory. As he was helping to set up one of the machines, a part which had not been fastened securely overhead came crashing down, breaking two bones in his wrist.
In the meantime, add to this mix, two daughters ~ Mary & Clare ~ having their jaws broken on purpose ~ during the course of various surgeries...and Mary nearly dying in the process! Long story, that...I'll blog about that sometime...
Then picture this:
Clare coming out to the car after school one afternoon, stepping off the curb to step up into the van. As she was falling under the van and crying out, "O-oh-owww!! My ankle!!" ~ and I am beginning to feel that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach ~ I just knew what was coming. Another broken bone, right? Haven't we had enough of that yet?
Not quite...
There was that fateful Winter morning, about 4:00...when no one else was around to help...and dearest husband Michael fell on the ice, in the street, as he was leaving for work. Unfortunately, being all alone, he had to try to drag himself up into the car and drive the 30 miles to work, while barely being able to move his leg. By the time he had parked his car, ridden the shuttle bus to the building and walked (or rather, hobbled) to his job, he had decided that it wasn't worth the pain, and turned right around and retraced his "steps" all the way back home. By the time I got up, he was sitting in the kitchen, not able to move. A visit to the hospital revealed that he had fractured his hip!
There have been other things, of course ~ with a family this size the odds are that much greater ~ but I think that just about covers the broken bones.
Until now, with me and my leg...
So now, it is my turn. Here I sit, thinking back to all of this, and I have to say that it's been quite a trip (no pun intended here, either)...Of course, there are, believe it or not, several members of the family who have never suffered a break.
I have no idea how their luck has held out this long, being a part of this family as they are, but I pray that, for them at least, their luck continues ~ for the rest of their days!