A simple twist of fate

on march 29th 2004 at 10: 45 in the morning i was walking home from work. it was a beautiful spring day and i was looking forward to a walk through a big park near by for exercise . i was also taking my camera along in hopes of some cherry blossom shots. work had been uncomfortable but that day i rocked and was in a great mood. i was going over what i needed to gather to get going. there were a couple of cars waiting at the stop sign so i decided to walk a bit closer to my building before i crossed the street. i was almost across from the front door so i went to cross between two cars. they were parked close together so when i stepped down off the curb i stepped on the edge of a hole i didn't see. i so didn't expect that. i went down fast and hard. as it was happening i knew i had really messed up. the bag containing my cd player, some cd's, my journal and the small ceramic coffee cup i had just won as a prize went flying (and breaking) all over the street. It's a busy street so i tried in my pain amidst a string of profanity to retrieve my items. one attempt to move and i realized one of my worst fears had come true. the sole bread winner was down!

I have worked hard the last 3 years to be self sufficient. I have not gone out partying on the night before a early morning (early is 3:20am) shift at work. Common sense I know but a lot of my co-workers do it regulary. I would resist buying that awesome pair of shoes that I would love to have but didn't need. I always made sure I had rent and bills covered before all else. Don't give me the sainthood quite yet. What I'm saying is there was nobody around to be my back up. (that's a whole set of stories I will eventually get to) I'm proud of the person I am and evolving into. I have always been and still am a responsible person. Yeah for me because I had paid the extra for health insurance. In the 1 1/2 years I worked there I never really needed it. Some co-workers even had said I should cancel it so I would have extra spending money. I just felt better knowing if I needed it i had it. Well i was gonna need it now!

The Fire Marshal was coming to do an inspection of the sprinkler system in my building. He was freaked out watching me go down and putting sailors everywhere to shame with my string of profanity at a increased volume . He gathered my items and helped me hop to my building. Once inside I took it from there and got to my apt. My right knee was bleeding pretty good and I had to get my shoe and sock off while I still could. I was in a lot of pain so I allowed myself a few minutes of crying then I called work to ask if the next person to get off would take me...... wait... where do I go? I had no clue since I never had an emergency! I had to play corporate phone transfer til one lady told me my options. That burned up most of the hour I spent waiting for Jasmine to show up.

She was new at my store and to Portland so S didn't really know her very well. She used the spare keys I kept in my locker to get in my place. She got me Advil and cleaned my knee up. She even helped me change out of my uniform! She and her husband drove me cross town to my doctors office. I told them they didn't have to wait for me. I was being fit in so who knew how long I would be. Sara, my friend who lived next door, worked over that way and would be getting off about the time I'd probably be done.

The doctor asked me more than once " How did you do this again?" After an exam and x-ray it was determined that I had severely sprained my ankle and had to stay off it for sometime. Ouch.