My wrist broke my fall; my fall broke my wrist.

I fell on ice. 

In the crease.  After taking a shot.  I went down hard and in that canyon of a second, I knew something was going to start hurting.  And it was my wrist.

As far as injured limbs go, the non-dominant arm has got to be the best.  Especially since shortly after the break, winter descended and the sidewalks are full of ice.  And I bet the emergency rooms are full of more broken wrists.

I have never had a serious injury playing hockey.  Sure I’ve felt my organs move around, played with strains that adrenaline masks, seen a few stars and even heard bells ring (that one was weird), but who hasn’t?  It’s a pretty safe sport as team sports go.  You fall, you slide, you try to avoid the boards.  I injured myself more when I started doing yoga.

My teammates took such good care of me in the aftermath. Followed by a five-star visit to emergency; the shortest ever. I am grateful to the person who put my fibre-glass cast on, for all the great suggestions of what to jam down it: knitting needles, chopsticks, pens.  I never would have thought of them if she hadn’t given me the list.  Unfortunately it seems to itch the most right when I’ve crawled into bed and don’t want to go downstairs for any of those items.

My husband is encouraging me to look for the ‘gifts’ this has given me.  Little of my own medicine back, okay, sure.  I see how that can be annoying.  Got it.  Oh, there it was, my first gift. 

Others under consideration:

• My daughter might think I’m a little badass (but that could be my imagination interpreting all the non-verbal cues).
• My husband tied my boots.  Reminded me of when I was pregnant and he took such good care of me that I was concerned how I would react when I had to share his attention.  Got it back, sucka!
• We are re-furbing our kitchen, which means every surface is being scrubbed and painted.  After a week of slow-down, I learned I can do it all with one hand. 

I guess the biggest gift is a few weeks of two evenings a week when I would normally be out, that we can spend eating dinners or doing other things together.  So a gift of time.  That’s where I’m at right now, two weeks in. 

I’ll be back, hockey.  In 2020, I’m coming for you.