“Skiing accident?”
This was the first thought of Dublin Goodfellow Michael Haley when he saw me hop out of my car with a crutch for a meeting at City Hall last week.
I responded that I wished it was something that glamorous or exciting.
The truth is my two weeks of pain started by sleeping wrong.
I’m a fitful sleeper and woke up with a slight ache in my shoulder one day.
It wasn’t too bad, but when I woke up the next night as I twisted my shoulder while driving it into the mattress, I knew it was about to get a lot worse.
Sure enough, I couldn’t move the shoulder freely while building the paper and didn’t want to move.
I locked my knees on the lip of my chair and was feeling a little comfortable until I got up that afternoon and my left leg tried to give up as I tried to extend it.
I had to wait until my shoulder was better to use a crutch without pain. After a couple of days of hobbling on a crutch and accidentally slamming my weight onto my toes, I pulled the tendons in my left ankle.
This led to me building a paper from home while laid up in a recliner and a pretty massive mistake which I’ve apologized for approximately 14,216 times (see correction at left).
It also meant hobbling to the podium in front of the gym to present the Dublin Citizen athlete of the year awards.
Presenting awards to hardworking athletes while limping due to an injury that started while sleeping is a special type of embarrassing.
That said, I was still glad to do it.
I’ve seen my fair share of crutches this year as Dublin athletes seemed to have bad luck on the courts and fields. I also saw a lot of goodnatured smiles and determination from those athletes ready to go as soon as they were off the injured list.
That level of resilience and resolve will serve them well in the years to come. They’ll also probably be in better shape so they won’t get injured while sleeping.
Another thing I saw in abundance this year was teamwork, from athletes and coaches at sports, from staff at schools, from businesses and organizations banding together during a difficult pandemic, from neighbors helping each other in getting groceries or provisions for friends in quarantine and more.
The last year has been a trying one, but has inspired some of the best in people rushing to aid each other.
This is what I experienced during the recovery to my lame injury:
I had staff who picked up a lot of my slack and did so graciously. I had a friend come over multiple times and bring meals. I had another friend tell me that she would be coming over to help me clean my house. (I didn’t get a choice in the matter.) I had parents who handled my slightly spoiled Husky during recovery, and I had a girlfriend who up-ended her schedule to come and take care of me late last week.
I often find it hard to ask for help because I don’t like to burden those around me. I felt blessed to have my family friends and neighbors. We can put up a facade during our best days, but it’s those around us that make the worst bearable.