Laid up

This is not what I intend to write about today, but I have had an unexpected event in my life. I fell and am now stuck with crutches and bed rest.

It amazes me how a day with such potential can become one of the worst in one's life. It started out with two pretty cool possibilities for a Saturday. A friend had called to tell me she was heading down to her beach house, and she invited my family and me to come down for the weekend. We haven't seen each other in months due to conflicting scheduled, so I was excited about the chance to get away from the chores and duties here, and have a weekend of just play.

The other possibility was one of my other friends. He turned in his resignation at work on Friday, and so had his first weekend off in 3 years. He was willing to come to my place to visit.

Either choice was a good one, but I admit my first choice was going to the beach. That friend had some bad news last week, and so she was looking to forget her hard times, whereas my other friend was basking in the glory of dumping a bad boss.

Saturday morning dawned and I called my friend at the beach. She had driven down Friday evening. We talked and she asked if we could wait until Tuesday for our day of fun. She needed a few days to pull herself together. That sounded reasonable, so we planned a day of fun for Tuesday.

I called my other friend, to see if he wanted to come for a day of D&D (those who don't know what that is will have to wait for another blog.) Unfortunately, his wife had come down with something, and he had to stay home and nurse her. Well, with no one to visit, my husband, children and I decided to catch a movie, Robots. So, off we went to the theatre.

In our area, we have a very cool theatre chain that differs from ordinary theatres. At the Cinema Cafe (visit www.conema-cafe.com for more info), the guests sit at tables, and can order full meals to eat while watching the movie. So instead of just popcorn, candy and a soda, my two older children had pizza, whereas our little one had corn dog nuggets.

Anyway, after the food was delivered, we discovered that we were missing a straw, so I decided to sneak out (so the rest of the customers could still see the movie) to get another straw. Unfortunately, I didn't remember the small step at the aisle, and I missed it, landing on my ankle in a way that ankles aren't meant to bend. The waiters came to my rescue getting me ice, and the manager brought me a chair. He offered to get me medical treatment. I declined; after all, I only twisted it. He recommended I fill out an accident report after the movie just in case, so that if went to the doctor I could charge it back to them and helped me back to my seat.

An hour and a half of throbbing ankle pain later, I filled out the paperwork. He gave me passes for a free movie the next time I came, and offered to wheel me out to my car, if necessary. I really didn't think it was their fault. I ended up heading to the Doc-in-a-Box anyway. Two hours later, I was on crutches with my ankle wrapped up. The x-rays didn't show any broken bones, but there could be ligament damage. Wonderful, I thought, remembering that my husband is leaving for a week in San Diego on Monday.

As I hobbled to the car on the new crutches, I realized that I am far from graceful using them. In fact, I am a danger to the civilized world. The doctor had recommended staying in bed at least until Monday, and then just tentative attempts to put weight on it. He hoped I would be back to normal in a week.

This was the death of my Tuesday outing with K. It also meant some major changes in the rest of my week. No way to drive my son to Scouts. No way to pick him up from after school play practice. No way to even hit the grocery store. How can anyone push a grocery cart while hobbling on crutches?

So, here I am, a captive audience. I guess this week I will be reading your blogs.