For a variety of reasons, I never got to know my mom’s side of the family quite as well (mainly since many of that side of the family – including my grandparents – lived in BC so we simply didn’t see them that often.)
But we had a family reunion at Kenosee Lake a few years back and it was a great chance to reconnect with many relatives on my mom’s side including one family I did know a bit better – the Bobby and Joyce Peet family who lived across the bridge from my grandparents in Kelowna.
(On a side note, as I sit and whimper with my broken wrist, I’ll point out that Bobby and Joyce’s daughter, DJ, who is second from right in the back row, attended the reunion with her hand in a splint and bandages as she’d recently caught it in an auger and though her hand was ripped up pretty bad, she was extremely fortunate that the leather gloves she was wearing jammed the auger and prevented much worse damage!)
I’ve always believed that science fiction is the single best type of writing to teach us about our own lives and society.
So I’m absolutely fine when I think about sci-fi books with “inappropriate” content being put into the hands of kids even though the author of this article seems to think librarians put some books in the kid’s section out of obliviousness (which may be true) but without also acknowledging that most librarians also have a fairly open interpretation of “what’s appropriate for readers” and *don’t* try to be gatekeepers.
I’ve had some pretty down moments since breaking my wrist three weeks ago:
When the ER doc said it was broken, not sprained.
When she said I’d need surgery, not just a cast
When Shea and I had to waste three days waiting in hospital in Regina in the midst of a 10-day camping holiday in Weyburn
The entire drive into Regina where I beat myself up pretty bad about hurting myself. “Accidents happen” but I kept thinking how this was an “unforced error” as I chose to try a bike jump, I didn’t just trip in a crack on the sidewalk.
Realising how many things are affected by this injury – from typing to swimming to even being able to do up the buttons on my clothes (hint: I can’t – at least without some serious pain.)
When I broke my leg, I got x-rayed, casted, and still made an important meeting at work the same afternoon then missed very little work after. But because of the nature of this one, I’ve already been off for a couple weeks and will be for at least a couple more.
When I nearly cried in the x-ray room yesterday when they made me hold my hand at a slight angle instead of flat.
That it took over two hours to type this blog post using one hand when it might’ve taken ~15 minutes before! 😉
But I’m trying to stay positive so here are some things I’m keeping in mind…
It could’ve been worse. I broke my left wrist, not my right. I only broke one bone. I didn’t break my neck!
This bone is notorious for being missed when initially broken so I was lucky they caught it *and* I got surgery within 48 hours which should help ensure better recovery.
After hurting myself, I’ve heard lots of stories of more serious injuries at the campground this summer – a kid who got a horrible concussion riding a bike down a hill, a drunk who face planted and smashed his face so bad, he required hospitalization, a lady who fell off a bike and also broke her wrist but broke multiple bones/needed multiple screws. There’s apparently even another dad who tried to impress his son on a bike jump and broke his ankle! 🙂
I may not get back to 100% but I will recover unlike people who have permanent injuries, amputations or anything else that that can’t be treated. (Talked to one guy at the boat launch last weekend who was clearly in ill health. Said he has CP so has lost most use of his right wrist permanently among other impacts *plus* he’d fallen off a ladder a few years ago and broken his back!)
I broke it closer to the end of summer in late July so we had regular camping through all of May/June and 3/4 of July.
I can still do most of my favourite camping activities with slight modifications. No football tossing with Pace so we’re using a frisbee. Regular books are harder to manage so I’m reading more magazines and ebooks. I can’t swim but can still wade in the water at the beach. And luckily, I can still crack a beer one-handed!
I am *not* having a good August – the tooth ache I had last weekend hurt *way* worse than breaking my wrist and led to some quality time in my dentist’s chair today.
