One of THOSE Days (Day 66 - September 26, 2011)

Yesterday I was only 5 minutes away from being finished the yard work I was hired to do, when I found myself lying face down on some gravel between two houses.  Thankfully, I was no longer seeing stars caused by the intense pain emanating from my left ankle, but I was feeling nauseous and wondering if I would be able to stand up.  Nobody was around.

Moments before, I had simply changed directions and my left ankle rolled on a rock. I have a weak left ankle due to an injury 20 years ago (nerve damage), and so this has happened before but not always this badly.  I decided I couldn't just lay there and so I hobbled, crawled, and hopped my way to the front door to seek help. I applied an ice pack provided to me and elevated it for a few minutes, and then bound it in a tensor bandage to limit swelling.  However, instinctively I knew that I had to keep moving . . .  becoming an invalid was not an option. With my ankle wrapped, I went and finished the last 5 minutes of work (although it took me 10 minutes due to the limited mobility). I received my $20 pay, and made a beeline for my tent.

However, faster than you could think "it could be worse" . . . it got worse.  At home, my dog was outside chewing on a bone.  My dog is the friendliest most lovable pup.  He loves to fetch his ball and play with other dogs, when he sees people he goes into a full body tail wag, and he allows us to do anything to him including rubbing his jaw while he is eating and yank matted hair from his ears.  Well . . . almost anything.  When he has a bone, his Mr. Hyde comes out and he doesn't want you near his bone.  I think it's his primal instinct to protect his kill.  Even knowing that, when I saw a wasp on the bone, I lunged to get the bone so my dog wouldn't get stung.  Unfortunately, my violent movement towards the bone scared the dickens out of my dog, and he bit me.  Yes, he literally bit the hand hand that feeds him!

(Side Note - For the rest of the night, my dog sucked up to me and lowered his head whenever he saw me.  I knew he was remorseful, and that he knew what he did was wrong.)

Okay . . . sprained ankle, bitten hand . . . I bunkered down in my tent to lick my wounds and feel sorry for myself . . . that's enough for one day.  Wrong again!  Last night a wicked windstorm blew threw the area that not only kept me up most of the night (until about 5 AM) . . . it caused some minor damage to my tent (pulling out stakes, ripping the tarp). FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

BUT . . . WAIT.  Really, it could have been so much worse.  My ankle hurts and is an inconvenience to be sure, but in another part of the world it might have meant the inability for me to work the fields or walk to the market and would result in my family going hungry.  Heck, even in the next phase of this project (Phase II - Struggle of the Working Poor) . . . it would likely cause me to delete all my funds buying gas to get me where I would otherwise have walked.  I'm lucky.  Further, my hand will heal and my dog has learned his lesson.  However, in other parts of the world where "bad dogs" (that's what they call them) run free, a bite from them would have necessitated sticking needles into my stomach as part of rabies treatment . . . IF lucky enough to be in a place with medical facilities.  I'm very lucky.  As for my tent, the fact that I have a tent to get damaged while protecting me from the wind is extremely fortunate.  Come to think of it, I'm not only lucky . . . I'm downright blessed!

If you have access to medical services, a roof over your head, and food . . . then you're blessed, too.  Let's not let inconveniences in our own lives cause us to lose sight of the big picture and our blessings.


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