A Bruised Knee and a Bruised Ego

Last Sunday, January 20^th, I had one of the scariest falls of my life. As I was walking down from the stairs, I awkwardly slipped on a wet spot I had not seen, thus causing me to nearly do a full-split of sorts. Luckily, no joints were fractured and no legs were broken. Unfortunately, the kneecap area was badly bruised, thus making my entire left leg virtually injured. A lot of questions and anxiety-provoking feelings were felt after that fateful crash from the staircase. It had to happen the night before my very last first day of school of MY ENTIRE LIFE (unless I do masters of course). I was months away from marching, and with thesis and school requirements flooding my anxious self, this injury of mine had to compound my this seemingly long and heavy list of anxieties. It seemed that it was a pre-cursor to how screwed I was or could possibly be this coming semester. It’s as if the accident was a preview of what’s to come for my final ride in College.

Applying Ice Pack on that Bum Knee

If anything, the fall gave me a fresh new perspective of sorts. Pre-accident, I began the year listing ambitious goals such as graduating with something-cum-laude, pulling off a full-blown thesis, you name it. However, the entire week saw me literally limping from one classroom to another, one painful step at a time. I was very frustrated and a bit jealous that I saw others strolling around school normally without any pain whatsoever. It’s as if my bum knee represented what college has been for me the past few years, the introvert, lonely dude that’s always either left out or the odd man out. All of a sudden, I had to lower the goals for myself, from graduating and getting up outta here to simply just wanting to walk normally again. Indeed, something a parent would wish for his/her infant just starting to discover life. It’s as if I had put myself in the early childhood stage, cos this simple goal of walking pain-free reqired “babysteps”. I’m not the type that demands to be pitied when the going get rough, but it kinda sucked that I was one of the few guys that walked awkwardly all around school. Heck, I consider myself lucky that no one even laughed at me while I was limping my ass all over the place. It’s as if the bruised knee I got also bruised my ego in a way (even though my parents always taught me to never have one to begin with). Even though I never had big bold dreams to begin with, this bruise humbled the soon-to-be College grad. Of course, the long-term goal of graduating remains the same, but the primary objective for me this week alone was not to ace any test or get in the teacher’s good side. It was to simply just walk again. Period, point blank.

So I guess this accident ain’t that all bad. It’s as if God was telling me to slow down and chill by not thinking long term. Sure, it’s good to envision the finish line at the start of each race, but He surely taught me a painful lesson of staying mindful with my current situation. Indeed, I paid the price with the ailing knee. After all, it ain’t a race, but a marathon. In fact, I gotta thank Him for cushioning my fall and keeping every joint in my body intact. It coulda been so much worse, but it ain’t. Lastly, I’m grateful that it happened to me, of all people. If that had happened to anyone else in the family, most especially my parents, their age wouldn’t enable them to recover quickly from an accident I suffered over the weekend.

Now that my knee is practically 75% healed, I guess it was great to look back at everything that has transpired this week. Not only was I able to survive the dreadful steps, but I also managed to come up with a thesis topic that I could work on. I got to enjoy every class I had attended over the past few days. Once that knee is back to 100, I can say that I can finally buckle up for the best 4 months yet

Fall seven times, stand up eight. – Dwyane Wade

Yours Truly,

Del Ro