So, here's the full story of how my knee injury came to pass: I rolled my right ankle, and my left knee popped three times as I fell. Yep, that's it - nothing exciting, no treacherous cliffs, wild animals, or falling trees involved. I did learn lots of things as I sat icing my leg in the creek (see picture of the creek below), such as "why didn't I tie my shoes?" or "why didn't I keep my eyes on where I was walking?".
Despite the blandness of the injury, I was taught a wonderful lesson about charity and service. Saturday morning, I woke up early and left with about half of the scout troop down the mountain. One scout stayed with me while the rest tried to hurry to the bottom to borrow or rent a horse. It was about 8 miles to where the cars were parked, and we hoped that a horse would help. After 4 1/2 hours I had only made it about 2 1/2 miles on foot, and started to get a distinct feeling that I would not make it all the way down on my own. When I saw the first group of horseback riders, I started to get hopeful - perhaps our scoutmaster had talked to them and they were going to offer a horse! Unfortunately, they didn't want to change their plans for the day - but they offered to pick me up on their way back sometime that night, if they came accross me again. The second group of riders was similar - "Take it easy - you got a long way to go!".
By this point, I was seriously starting to think "Leave me - I'll set up a tent and split up the hike across two days - just leave the excedrin with me!". A third group on horseback appeared, and I wasn't even going to bother asking for help, but when they saw how painful it was, they gave me one of their horses and turned around to come back down with me. Not only that, they gave me the smoothest horse they had, so it wouldn't jar my knee, and I found out later that they had lost a horse in the woods a few weeks ago and this was one of their last days to look for it!
So, thank you Brian, Pat, Kevin, and Jim, for your example of kindness to strangers and your sacrifice - I hope you find your horse!
Aurora drew them this thank you picture, which we're going to send to them this week.
Despite the blandness of the injury, I was taught a wonderful lesson about charity and service. Saturday morning, I woke up early and left with about half of the scout troop down the mountain. One scout stayed with me while the rest tried to hurry to the bottom to borrow or rent a horse. It was about 8 miles to where the cars were parked, and we hoped that a horse would help. After 4 1/2 hours I had only made it about 2 1/2 miles on foot, and started to get a distinct feeling that I would not make it all the way down on my own. When I saw the first group of horseback riders, I started to get hopeful - perhaps our scoutmaster had talked to them and they were going to offer a horse! Unfortunately, they didn't want to change their plans for the day - but they offered to pick me up on their way back sometime that night, if they came accross me again. The second group of riders was similar - "Take it easy - you got a long way to go!".
By this point, I was seriously starting to think "Leave me - I'll set up a tent and split up the hike across two days - just leave the excedrin with me!". A third group on horseback appeared, and I wasn't even going to bother asking for help, but when they saw how painful it was, they gave me one of their horses and turned around to come back down with me. Not only that, they gave me the smoothest horse they had, so it wouldn't jar my knee, and I found out later that they had lost a horse in the woods a few weeks ago and this was one of their last days to look for it!
So, thank you Brian, Pat, Kevin, and Jim, for your example of kindness to strangers and your sacrifice - I hope you find your horse!
Aurora drew them this thank you picture, which we're going to send to them this week.
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3 comments:
We are glad you are back and okay. You were truly being watched over and taken care of. Ernie and Craig had a wonderful time.
It sounds like a painful injury. There truly are some great people out there in the world.
Hi Heather I found your blog off April's Sorry to hear about your knee hope your doing better. I'm just getting started on blogging I love it. Its so nice to watch us grow up. I'm going to add you to my blog.
Christy (Cox) Morris
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