Taking Life Into My Own Hands

I took my life into my own hands last night. I took risks. I did something out of the ordinary. I was living on the edge.

I had the bright idea to join Chi O (my sorority) at a mixer last night. Well, the mixer was a skating one. Yes, like roller skating. There were drunk boys skating. Yes, I knew this before joining them on the rink. I really should have known not to join them.

Picture this: I get my skates on. I can't figure out how to go in them. Once I figured it out, my legs would go apart and I couldn't get them back together, so I was skating with my legs really far apart for the first twenty minutes. The entire time I was out there, I couldn't figure out how to stop myself. I just stuck to the running-into-the-wall technique. A few times, when I was having conversations with people and they had to stop for something, I would just keep going and of course I didn't have the ability to look backwards or I'd definitely fall.

We did the train and I busted around the curve. I'm pretty sure Casey and I destroyed the train, but I couldn't tell because I was laying on the ground. 

As the night went on, I got better at my roller skating techniques. I was able to  keep my legs together and could turn as the rink turned. I think that I became overconfident.

After skating for an hour and a half, I was going around... la-dee-dah.... and two intoxicated guys cut in front of me. Causing me to lurch forward and skin my knees and bruise my hands. This was painful, but I got back up and kept skating. 

Less than a half-a-lap back around, I bumped into the back of my friend Buck, causing him to lose his balance and sending him flying in the air. It was like slow motion. His arms were flailing and his feet were in the air. It was intense. So we both fell and I think he landed on my ankle. 

He laughed, stood up, and kept skating. 

I, on the other hand, fake laughed, couldn't stand up, and just wanted those dang skates off of my feet. We were in a crowded area so people were all around. I even have pictures of the fall. But anyways, people were telling me to move out of the way because people were going to run me over, but I couldn't move. I looked up at a girl and said, I can't move. And I couldn't even manage to get my skate off. I began crawling but that hurt. And I felt like an IDIOT.

A bunch of girls helped me get my skate off and to the side where I remained until we got kicked out of the skating rink about 10 minutes later. By the time I got in the bus, my ankle was swollen. My hand was bruised. My knees were both skinned. And I was embarrassed.

No one else got hurt badly like that as far as I know. And they were even intoxicated! 

This morning I couldn't sleep past 8 am because the covers were hurting my ankle so bad. I finally got up the courage to go ahead and look at it, and it looked as if there was an egg in my ankle. Lovely. 

I got up and called the health clinic. After waiting on hold for 21 minutes, Gayle at the clinic was so sweet and told me to come in as soon as I could and I didn't have to worry about an appointment. The nurse asked what happened. Roller skating, I told her. She gave me a look and asked if she could x-ray me. The x-ray lady then asked me what happened. Roller skating, I told her. She laughed. The doctor then asked just how exactly this happened. Roller skating! I explained. Each time I cringed knowing that they were probably thinking.... Roller skating? That's so not cool anymore. And a college student? Strange.

It's not broken, thank goodness! It's a 2nd degree sprain and the doctor told me that I tore some ligaments in my ankle but that it should be better in 3-6 weeks. He ace-bandaged it, told me to ice it, scheduled a physical therapist appointment for next Tuesday, and sent me hobbling out.

It's kind of embarrassing to walk in front of people.


[Please excuse my pictures, a.) they were taken on my phone and b.) hope you didn't get too grossed out by my feet.]