Monday, July 03, 2006

2004 The year I didn't die.

The year 2004 has a special meaning for me. I lost all my upper teeth and had a motorcycle accident in which I broke my left leg. The tibia to be exact, it broke in many fragments and a 10 in. plaque had to be screwed in with thirteen screws. The accident happened July 24, a day after our 33rd wedding anniversary. I was riding the most beautiful road in a gorgeous day, going down from Vernonia to Astoria on OR highway 202. Nothing was wrong everything was perfect! The ride was to get something for dinner after a hot day in the campsite where I had been camping for a day. The gathering to which I was attending was RUN 21 where a crazy crop of bikers gets together for some good time. Maybe I was having too much fun and forgot to remember how blessed I am, and have been. Thinking that all I have and all I do is because I can, not because I have been blessed and that there is some responsibility that comes with that gift.
If I have it, it is to give it away and not to keep it because I deserve it.
2004 was supposed to be my lucky year, and most likely it was! I have always been fond of numbers 2, 4, and 8. For no reason I guess but hose numbers have always been part of my life. Born in 1948, I guess made me like 4 and 8, 48. The nineteen might not have anything to related as (I thought) nothing special about being born in the XX th century.
The “2” of course is intrinsic within the 48, I guess. So now you see why the 2004 was supposed to be a lucky year, and it was! Let me describe the half full glass of water.
I broke my leg, and it did hurt a lot! I went to the hospital and had surgery. But along the way good people and angels came to me. Came to my rescue, to my healing and to my comfort! And most important of all came to teach me a lesson. The family was always there for me, especially the wife, daughter, and son. It didn’t matter that is was two or three in the morning when the icebox had to be refilled, my daughter will get up from bed and do the choirs without hesitation and without any complain. The love of my wife and the care and support of my son soon put me in a position where I was able to work. As classes started I didn’t have to miss a single class. At the college all of my colleagues were so welcoming and warm, they did everything they could to make me feel fine; I could feel their love for a broken-one like me. Everybody’s support and encouragement help to find the energy needed to heal and to work at the same time. It was another proof of the goodness of my life, of the blessed that I was and have been. To be surrounded by all of these friends and family is something that we should never take for granted, as we normally do.
Turning to the good side let me tell you that the people that met were extraordinary, starting with an angel who picked me up and drove me to the hospital, then the surgeon who has hands to perform miracles and one was performed, the first physical therapist who guided me to walking again and help me with the initial exercises at home. The physical therapist who help me during the long days or recovery and help me understand how my knee works and how should work, she has a lot of technical knowledge but most of all a caring way that is kind and strict at the same time.
My old friends and family were there as well as I mentioned before, not that I didn’t think that they would not be there but is that not only were there but were in a way that is impossible to describe. Every single one did way more than what is expected, with loving care and a smile. This is a lesson that I will never regret, even thought I don’t desire it for anyone, as it happened to me I am grateful that it did and think that is another blessing gift given to me.
Mainly the lesson that I am not in control, that it is God who is in control.


This is a picture of our family having lunch at "The Peppers" eating "barbacoa con consomé" and drinking some "agüa de horchata" and "pulque"



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