I Have A Lot To Be Thankful and Grateful For

This is about myself. It's truthful and, at times, blunt.

   I don't really like the word "survivor". Why do you ask? For starter's, it sounds like we are very weak. Second, it seems like "survivor" is thrown around a lot lately. I like to say that I have lived through some bad times and have come out much stronger. So, I like to say that I am stronger than I used to be. Like being in a Domestic Violence relationship. Yes, I have been in one. My ex-boyfriend turned it into a Domestic Violence situation. I will not give out his last name but his first name was Jeff. Let me tell you about this chapter of my life.

   After 7 years of seriously dating one another, I never thought it would ever happen to me. While we were dating I also ended up with two broken bones: my left femur and my lower right arm by the wrist. Jeff didn't break either bone although if he wasn't working for a friend who owned a carnival, I never would have had my femur bone broke. Because it happened at the carnival one night when they were tearing it down. Somebody (ok a stupid somebody) put the wrong nut and bolt into the wrong hole. This was on a kid's ride, and I bet you can figure out what happened next. Yep, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time:  half of the kiddy ride fell on me from the hip down. 

   Now I didn't know that my left femur bone was broken. Oh no. Didn't know that until I was rolled onto my back. You see, I landed on my right side. I was running as fast as I could, and I still could not outrun that kid's ride. It was too big and, unfortunately moving too fast. Way too fast. I ended up with a clean break of the left femur bone. You want to talk about PAIN! Let's talk about that pain I felt. That is the ABSOLUTE worst pain I have ever felt in my young life! It was an EXCRUCIATING pain, to say the least. Although the ride to the hospital was the second worst pain I have felt. I sweat the Chicago ambulance driver took the bumpiest roads to get to the hospital! Come on guys, I was in so much pain already then you had to go and do that.

   The Surgeon put a 15-inch steel rod down the middle of the two femur bones so they would grow back together. Oh, what fun I had over the winter with that inside of me. The surgeon decided to leave that 15-inch thing inside for 9 LONG months. So now guess what I can do? Thanks to the steel rod I can predict the weather a little. My left femur (as well as my tailbone) does not like rain, cold air, or the winter season. Although living here in South Carolina, the winters are a lot nicer, more mild, than up in northern Indiana.

   I like to say I have lived through a lot of painful and hurtful times in my life. And I have come out so much stronger because of them.