The last time I sprained my ankle . . .

. . . was in the fourth grade. I was in Brownsville, Texas, visiting my best friend, Lynn, whose dad had taken a job there temporarily. Lynn is supporting me in this picture, and now that I think about it, she still is, even though she is miles away.

I remember so much about that trip, but the memories seem to come in snapshots. Palm trees--how exotic! Dark skinned girls named Maria and Juanita--how could Lynn have replaced me so easily? Dead frogs in her pool--eww! I don't want to go swimming ever again! It was December, and Hurricane Beulah had just paid a visit a few months earlier, leaving behind overturned trees and a Picasso-looking landscape as souvenirs. Man, those trees were the best for climbing...long, winding branches glancing the ground, giving me a chance to grab hold and follow them to the sky.

My chance for sky reaching was short lived, however, because I miscalculated a landing and turned my ankle minutes before we were leaving for a day trip to Mexico. I didn't want my mom to know, because I thought I would get in trouble for tree climbing, so I tried to hide the pain. As you can see in this picture, I'm doing ok with it, but the discerning eye can see something amiss. Boy, was that a painful trip to Mexico! I remember hiding behind racks of clothes or going into a bathroom to get all my tears out before I faced my folks with a weak smile, saying, "No, nothing's wrong. Why?"

So I was thinking of that tough little kid I used to be when I sprained my ankle last week during a 6-mile walk. That hurt like the dickens! (whatever a dickens is...does that mean it hurts like the best and worst of times?) By the time I got home, I was moaning and groaning and not waiting to hide my tears. But now that I think of it, I did walk 5 more miles on my bad ankle before I'd had enough, so maybe I'm not such a crybaby.

The doc said I should stay off it completely for a week, so I caught up on my reading and enjoyed some awesome books. One in particular, The Glass Castle, was amazing. I love the range of emotions it led me through, and it surely made me rememeber what blessings I have instead of complaining about the ones I don't have. I've been thinking about jumping from the frying pan and into the fire lately, and even though there isn't much difference in the temperature between the two, Lynn reminds me that the fire isn't the only place to land. And if I land the wrong way, she'll be there to lean on.

In the iron-sharpens-iron department, I've got to share this quote she found written in the margins of her grandma's Bible:

Be careful of your thoughts, they become your words. Be careful of your words, they become your actions. Be careful of your actions, they become your habits. Be careful of your habits, they become your character. Be careful of your character, it becomes you.

Photo credit: my dad