Okay, so I had quite the adventure last night. Some friends in my ward decided to put a team together to play in a softball co-ed city league. I was a little nervous to participate with it being co-ed. In my experience, men are generally much stronger when it comes to hitting things with a bat. Anyway, they thought they might be short handed on women for the game on Tuesday night so I decided to play so they wouldn't forfeit. So we are playing and its getting late and the game is almost over. I get up to bat and I hit it. I can see that it is going toward either the short stop or third baseman--both of which are men. So I realize that if I am going to be safe I need to look straight ahead and just sprint as fast as I can to first. As soon as I hit the bag I feel this crushing blow hit the side/back of my head. I instantly knew that the throw to first had been off and I was in perfectly the wrong place. All I knew after that was that I had no control over my movements and I was falling. The blow had actually paralized me for a short time. I guess what actually happened, so I was told, was that I kept going for a few steps before my head and upper body fell forward and I rolled over and landed on my neck. Everyone was really worried and was telling me not to move--not that I could have anyway. After a minute or so I could tell that I could move if I wanted to. Oddly enough, my head didn't hurt but my left knee was killing me. So I layed there flat out on my back for over 20 minutes waiting for the paramedics. Then I had the pleasure of being strapped to a backboard. I tell you what, over the next hour and a half or so, I grew to hate that thing more than should be possible for an inanimate object. I then rode to the hospital in the back of an ambulance--no sirens. Nate followed us there. I then waited forever for a doctor to come in. I was still straped to the backboard and the thing was causing more pain to my head and neck than I would have ever dreamed was possible. I am not lying when I say that for me, it was much worse than being in labor. I'm not sure I've ever been in that much pain before. It was amazing how instant the relief was when they took it off. By this point, a new problem has come up. The doctor was wanting me to tell him what had happened. I for the life of me could not speak coherently. I knew exactly what had happened but I couldn't get my brain to form the words. At one point the doctor even asked me if I had been drinking! Nice, huh? After he left, Nate started talking to me. He asked me what his name was. My first thought was, wow that's a stupid question, of course I know who you are. Then he repeated, "what's my name?" I went to answer and...nothing. I couldn't come up with it. After a struggle, I finally got it. He then asked my name, our kids names, middle names, friends and other famliy members. Initially, I came up blank every time. Sometimes he had to tell me because I just couldn't get it. It was wierd because even after I would get the name right, I had to have reassurance that it was correct. If he would have lied and said no, I would have believed him. It was so crazy. And incredibly frusterating. I knew who every one of these people were but there were just no names. Thankfully, that only lasted about 40 minutes. After that it started coming back to me much quicker. Anyway, they didn't seem to think anything was really wrong. My knee seems to be messed up pretty bad. They gave me a brace thing and some crutches. I can't walk on it. Also, my whole upper back feels completely out of place. That makes it hard to use the crutches to walk. I have a pretty sore spot on my head and neck and I have a nice scratch on my back. Other than that, I am great! Nate has been so helpful. He's cleaned the house and taken care of the kids and gotten me anything I have needed. I am so thankful to have him around for the rest of the week before school starts. There is no way I could take care of anything around here without him. Thanks Nate. I love you!
So I guess I learned a few lessons. Softballs are not soft. And don't play softball with men. There is no way most girls on the field could have thrown that dang ball that hard.
Sorry about the lovely picture, but this is about all I have to show for my troubles. What's funny is that this is the least of my troubles. But all of the things that really hurt look totally normal. My knee isn't even swollen.
On Friday night, Nate had his 10 year high school reunion. He had a good time visiting with old friends from high school. Nate even won a prize for being the youngest classmate there. On Saturday we took Natalie and Kelton to see the parade. Natalie had tons of fun collecting all the candy thrown our way. The parade was a bit long and boring, but at least we were in the shade. And afterwards, I got to visit with some of my friends from high school, Ashley and Valerie, who happened to be right across the street from us. That night we let Natalie stay up so we could take her to the fireworks. We ended up watching them from a spot that was only about 150 yards away from where they were shooting them off. Natalie had a blast--she loves fireworks! Then she fell fast asleep on the way back home.
There's some of the family sitting on the shore watching those out on the water. Tiny picture, I know, but Nate and Natalie are both right about in the middle of the picture. In the picture above, you can see one of the two boats we had there and the tube/raft things we would pull people on behind the boats. Those were pretty fun to ride on too. If you are wondering if we still have another child...we do. His name is Kelton and he was asleep in the camper most of the time. He did go swimming with me for a little bit, shortly before we left. He loves, loves, loves the water too. In fact, he fell and got a cut near his eye and the only way I could make him stop crying was by putting him in the water. Who needs medicine when you've got a lake?
