The wonderfully productive past two months have come to a crashing halt!

Since returning from my winter wandering I have been busy digging out broken 100 year old fences, clearing away 30 year old junk piles, taking out dead trees and building new gardens. Sabrina and Ben’s small wedding celebration is being held here in September and I want things to look lovely. It’s a great opportunity to get my neglected grounds cleaned up as I hope to be open for business in 2019, and next summer I will be well occupied getting another 1000 blueberry plants in the ground. There is much to do and my focus can sometimes get a little manic, so I am often outside chipping away at the task at hand by dawn. Last Monday was just such a morning. 

 I was working on repairing the yawning hole in my back deck left by the retired hot tub. I don’t really know what happened. One second I was walking toward the hole with a tape measure in my hand and the next second my legs had buckled, somehow twisted together, and I found myself sprawled face down in the hole on the concrete blocks. I heard two cracks and couldn’t move either leg. Not good! Eventually, one leg recovered somewhat, but not the other. With my phone safely stowed upstairs on my bed, I managed to drag myself out of the hole backwards on my bum, across the deck, and into the kitchen where I weakly hollered for my youngest son Max (who could conceivably snooze through armageddon). Fortunately, some primordial instinct woke him up and in short order, I was in an ambulance headed for the Perth hospital, where it was confirmed that I broke my left ankle in three places. Fortunately, my right ankle is only sprained.

It’s never fun to be knocked off your game but it really makes you appreciate things that are often taken for granted. Things like being reasonably pain-free, having mobility, being able to go to the bathroom without help, being able to do anything without help. Needing help is not easy but one thing is certain – everybody needs assistance sometimes and learning  to accept it with grace is a good skill to acquire. Like my good friends Kathy and Dave say – just say thank you. So, Thank you! 

I’m grateful for many things. It’s only one broken ankle and I’m grateful for that. I don’t think we can ever truly understand what others go through until we go through it ourselves so this gives me a tiny glimmer of understanding  for those who have suffered far worse. And I’m am especially grateful and blessed for the dear friends, family and neighbours in my life who are there for me when I need them. Again, thank you!

So I am grounded for the time being. My long to-do list lays untouched, I have zero income until I’m back on my feet, my blueberries need attention, and I’m dealing with a couple of unrelated but coinciding emotional adjustments. But I know that everything will work out one way or another. It always does. Who knows why stuff happens but I like to think there is a reason for it. I believe in the old saying; when a door closes, a window opens. I’ll just try not to fall through it.