The waves.
I can see them; thick and blue lapping at the sky like hungry dogs. Four teenage girls riding wave runners on an open body of water. I see the sun glinting off their colt-like legs. I hear them laughing into the wind.
Then in an instant, in two misdirected circles they collide.
Beach's good friend India, a trained athlete, former gymnast, nationally ranked pole-vaulter, was able to jump from the wave runner right before impact. She was the only one not injured in the crash.
She was able to think and to react. It might have saved her life. It certainly saved her from injury.
The other three girls suffered injuries from minor sprains with a broken patella to life-altering. The worst injury an open femur fracture and fractured tib-fib.
It's not our story. It didn't happen to us but we felt it deep in our hearts. Grateful it wasn't worse. Grateful for the incredible luck that the next boat over had a doctor and a nurse on it.
Am I sad that just as Beach is recovering from her back injury that she broke her thumb messing around with a friend?
Not at all. I am glad she was living her life (albeit it was still in a gym). I am glad it wasn't a gymnastics injury- there are enough of those. I am grateful for the amazing network of moms that supported us. Grateful for a lot of things <3
I LOVED the female ER doc who sat on the bed with Beach on finding out she has a metal allergy and said, "You will have to get a good job to pay for the good jewelry." Then added, "Don't rely on a husband."
I adore my daughter who said, "I feel really stupid now knowing it is broken- I should have cried." For the X-Ray tech who let her keep her phone so she could snap-chat the x-rays. For the nurse who got us handwritten discharge papers so we could make it back to camp in time for Beam.
These are not normal kids and I have stopped hating that and I have stopped apologizing for it. I have stopped morning the loss of "normal". It took me 9 years to get here but I am here.
Patient's main complaint: hungry.
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