Awww, Mem'ries (Part 1)

Tomorrow marks the 4th year anniversary of God breaking me...physically breaking me. Most people know the quick story about what happened. Few know the entire story. Sometimes it takes so long to tell it, I figure I could just write it out. Then when someone asks, I can say, “Please refer to my blog posting on November 24, 2008.” Ok, here we go.

The What

I was doing my student teaching in Costa Rica. Yeah, I know. It was A-Maze-Zing! November 25, 2004 was Thanksgiving Day in the US. It also happened to be the last day of classes for my students aka the beginning of 2 blissful weeks of vacation before going back home. I had just learned how to surf the weekend before and was looking forward to spending those 2 weeks on a surfboard in the middle of paradise.

School ended early, so my mentor teacher, my roommate, and I headed home. When we arrived, I was starving! All I wanted was a Diet Coke and a chicken salad sandwich. Mmm, I could already taste it. I started walking toward the kitchen when SNAP! BOOM! My butt was on the ground, and I didn’t know how it got there. When I looked down, (Get ready! This is not for the faint of heart!) my knee was in a different location than it was 0.5 seconds ago. There was no blood, but my kneecap was an inch higher, awkwardly pressing against the skin and flesh that kept it held together. “OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!” I yelled in disbelief. God please put it back in, I thought. The pain was gone, but the freaking out was not. My roommate rounded the corner. “OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!” she yelled. In my head I was thinking, this probably would’ve been funny if hadn’t been real. About that time my teacher came down the hallway. “Holy Shoot!” she yelled. (We’re a religious bunch, you can tell.) Quickly, she got on the phone and called an ambulance. While we were waiting, my roommate was still freaking out. So I sent her on errands to get my passport, medical card, and my camera. That’s right! I had to document the worst injury I’ve ever received. Maybe I’ll post it if I get enough requests. =)

Ok, I'm tired. Tomorrow, we'll pick up where we left off.