Souvenir

 I can hardly believe I’ve gone 10 days without posting about the unexpected souvenir I brought back from New York. (It’s what I was going to post Thursday, but a spectacular sunset distracted me.) Things I’ve read since then remind me of my calling to write about & share the hope & goodness & gratitude & lessons from various experiences in life. I’m truly not looking for sympathy — I’m wanting to express gratitude because I know my painful situation could have been so much worse. The two reasons I haven’t posted are because it didn’t lend itself to pictures & I don’t know how to keep it short. But I’m gonna try!! 

When I couldn’t get the door to my Bonnie Castle hotel room open after I unlocked it on Wednesday, July 13, I pushed hard — and when it opened, my right hip handed hard on the wooden floor. Ouch!!! 

That was Wednesday, July 13. Since then I’ve learned a lot about my body. A bruised hip can really hurt, even when nothing is broken or dislocated. Ice & ibuprofen are my friends. I need to become friends with patience — because getting in a hurry not only hurts but likely will cause the pain to intensify & endure. Just because I could walk & move without excruciating pain didn’t mean I should. And certainly when the pain was intense, I should rest. Why was that so hard?!? Two days spending 11 hours in the truck riding back from New York weren’t overly painful; getting out & moving when we stopped was the challenge! 

On the 9th day after my fall, as I was searching the internet while walking slowly (and more painfully than expected) to the lake to see the sunset, I realized I had somehow missed the recommendations to rest & elevate the bruised area. The 10th day (today) I figured out a way to elevate it without special equipment, and it does help with the pain. And I’m forgoing my beloved sunset walk, although missing my walk doesn’t help with my mental health. I’ve had to pray in faith & with thanksgiving for God to help me keep my focus on & faith in Him, & to not drift into self-pity or frustration. I’m hopeful that a bit of rest & relaxation today will make it more feasible to go to church tomorrow. 

I started this on Facebook but am moving it to my blog, the place where I stash a lot of my writing that to me falls short of what I had hoped to express. It’s the place where I give myself permission to come back & try again, to fill in the gaps … 

In other words, there’s likely more to come on this topic …