Skip to main content

Day 16: Crashes

Crash 1
The Brainard Lake loop was slick and by slick I mean the trail frequently sent me careening into nearby trees. Don't be fooled by the lovely scenery; every move was a battle to remain on the trail. On the access road descent, I picked up a lot of speed on hard-packed snow, maybe caught an edge, and went down with terrific force. It was one of those falls where you remain horizontal as you quickly assess whether you're conscious. I recalled a bike crash, years ago, when I slapped some leaves to my forehead and contemplated whether to take the shorter, woodsy way home or the longer, road-based way home, lest I fainted and needed to be found by someone. Today, I tried assessing whether I was bleeding but decided getting back to the car should be my first priority. I sustained a cheek laceration, thanks to my sunglasses, and a bruised eyebrow. I'm wondering if I'll have a black eye tomorrow.

Crash 2
I wish I had a picture of this one but, alas, I was in a rush to get to a luncheon/interview. Let's just say I'm not used to driving a rear-wheel drive vehicle in snow. I rounded a bend, knew I had too much speed, and headed towards the nearest snow bank. Praise God I landed on the snow bank rather than crashing down the other side! This was the second time in my life that I was infinitely grateful for a snow bank. The first time was on a very snowy drive up to Big Bear, on a detour, with next to no gas in my tank. That time, AAA was my savior. Today, a father-son team came up the road, pushed me out of the snow bank, collected the fog light and some other plastic piece sitting in the snow bank, bungee-corded the valance to the bumper, and wished me well.

Lessons Learned
  1. Know my skiing limits.
  2. Drive carefully on snow, especially on curves. When in doubt, try 4wd.
  3. God is good to me beyond measure; I'm completely undeserving of His grace.
Following on Lesson 3, a song that struck me a couple times today is by JJ Heller called "What Love Really Means," describing God's great love for us. Here's a line or two: "I will love you for you, not for what you have done or what you will become."
And with that, I'm signing off for awhile. I'll be on an ice climbing "sabbatical" until the weekend with plenty of posts to follow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Disease Day 2024

Today's Rare Disease Day. There's sometimes a particular weightiness to life with a rare disease. All the appointments, emergencies, traumas, doctors, therapists, medicines, opinions, schedules and upset schedules. My touchpoint is being mom to my precious girl with Wiedemann-Steiner Syndrome  (WSS). You'd have to spend a day or week shadowing me to know what it's really like. Doesn't that sound alienating? As though you couldn't possibly imagine if you're not living it? Well, maybe. But think about a time of immense grief you've lived through, or a time when your world seemed to be falling apart around you and it felt like everyone else was completely unaffected. I suppose it's a bit like that. You might have thought that those around you couldn't possibly know how that experience felt to you. A couple weeks ago, I started keeping a list of all the extraordinary things that happened in my life due to my daughter's rare disease. I learned a c
1 comment
Read more

Startup Day 875: piloting in New Haven

Iteration is emblematic of startups. For example: From last year's pilot , we learned that parents and adults with disabilities were looking for recommended resources.  We built the Empowered Together app and tried crowd-sourcing those recommendations.  In our New Haven pilot, we're bringing database building in-house by listing accessible food, arts, and recreational businesses in greater New Haven.  Thankfully, we have thought partners in this endeavor at the City of New Haven and at community disability orgs. We are working with a Quinnipiac student and awaiting word on additional grant funding. We're taking the right next step in changing the social system to be accessible and inclusive of People with Disabilities.
Post a Comment
Read more

leap for joy

Greetings from the land of Knee Shorts modest clothing, virgin margaritas, & clean flicks. Yes, I really encountered all those at the Great Salt Lake . The drive rivaled the drive to Vegas for number of praises from Mom. In my humble opinion, the drive to SLC wins, hands down. Mountains rise from clover-covered valleys, climaxing in snowy peaks. Cows & horses graze in bucolic pastures. We had a 2+ hour conference call w/ the siblings filled w/ Lisa singing Mariah Carey & Tim claiming he really was listening to everything we said. We arrived to the perfect hotel where we got to run, swim, AND bed jump. Thanks to Christine who introduced me to a bed jumping website (http://www.hotelsbycity.net/blog/bed-jump/), I had to try it. Caution: bed jumping can result in sleeping with one end of your bed on the floor OR with your suitcase holding up the mattress. By the way, Mom has declared a new gift. In addition to Master Map Reader and Spatial Arranger, she hereafter can spe
9 comments
Read more