F-Bomb Friday...the ski incident

On the drive to work this morning I heard an ad for a ski resort, which reminded me of this...


In college I went on a ski trip with some girlfriends. I had never been skiing before and thought maybe I should take some sort of a lesson when we arrived. My friends assured me I didn't need a lesson and it would be the same if they showed me what I needed to do (hey, we were in college why spend waste money on lessons).

We start out the day and everyone is eager to get on the slopes...I'm a bit hesitant but ready to give it a shot. I go down maybe once or twice then I fall BIG...and I fall near the ski lift.


My right knee was somehow twisted and I remember seeing it and thinking my knee was a bit too close to my head. A few of the workers rushed over to me. I was embarrassed--not only because I fell but I fell on the beginner slope--and near people who were getting off the lift--so I had an audience. The workers told me they would send a stretcher for me. I was horrified and assured them I could ski down the mountain hill.

Going down was frightening. I tried to balance on my good leg, which didn't work and just made me fall more often. I tried to ignore the 3-year-olds who were whizzing by me at record speed and dusting me with snow while I lay flat on my back trying to get up. I tried to keep my painful shrieks as quiet as possible, which didn't work at all because my friend who was high above me on a lift to the big boy slopes later told me she could hear me screaming.

Long story short, I eventually made it down the hill and spent the day in the lodge drinking hot chocolate while I waited for my friends to come in. Of course, my fall happened early in the day so I had a long time to wait. My knee was getting bigger and bigger and walking was difficult. After the 7-hour drive home the following day I could barely stand it was so swollen.

My parents were traveling so I called my mom's friend who was a nurse. She looked at it and said it was fine...just a sprain...give it time.

From then on I would often feel a pain in my knee and it would sometimes buckle. Finally when I had trouble with my knee locking (on a regular basis) I went to a doctor. Found out all those years earlier on the snow I tore my ACL. My orthopedist winked when he told me I had a real "jock" injury. If only he could have seen me when it happened...I can assure you when I fell not one person said, "Wow, SHE's a jock."