Midnight Sledding & Dislocations...

So I had a midnight sledding night last night. First one of the season. Had a reasonable turnout...about 10 or so. For the most part was a typical fun sledding night as always...except for one new fun addition---injuries! Yes, we had our first injury last night. Right off the bat in fact....first hill we started down. Now this is probably the steepest hill of the entire thing, even steeper than the first big one. But as we all flew down the hill on our sleds (like the cool breeze of a YORK peppermint patty!), one of our sledding newbies...Marty, crashed off the side, did some flips, and dislocated his shoulder! Fun times... So of course we all rushed up to him once realizing he was hurt. Poor Marty was in agonizing pain, but Matthias tried to get it to reset back into place. He had the right procedure, but it just wouldn't go. After giving Marty a breather, his pain levels were still through the roof, so I decided to give it one more try to reset it myself before resigning to dope him up with drugs from my first aid kit. I took a few more minutes to get the muscles to relax, and as I was rotating the arm back up....I pushed gently on the ball of his shoulder socket....and POP! I suddenly felt it pop right back into place...followed by an immediate & loud sigh of relief from Marty. =)

Okay, so I feel bad for Marty and his pain, but that aside....it was great! I've never gotten to reset a dislocated shoulder before and have always wondered whether it really pops back into as drastically as they show in the movies and whether it really is that huge a relief for the person's pain once it does....Yep, it is! I think I should have been a medic, cause that kind of stuff excites me. Thanks Marty for helping me learn exactly how to reset a shoulder....

Marty felt a lot better, but was still pretty sore, so when a snowcat came by, we flagged him down and asked if he could give Marty a ride back to the parking lot so he wouldn't have to sled the mile or so back out. So in the end, it all worked out pretty well and was a good sledding night with a little added adventure bonus (at Marty's expense, but hey....). Good times....can't wait til next month's sledding trip!

Love is Messy

So tonight I got out and joined my two new friends Szymon & Carolyn at the movies. They've been really supportive since Court left. We saw the movie "Dan in Real Life", which is about a widowed father (played by Steve Carell) with 3 daughters trying to cope with.....well life! It turned out to be such an amazing movie about life, family, and love. On the surface most people would see this movie as a light-hearted romantic comedy, but I saw so much more in it. I saw life portrayed...real, actual life. Not the typical Hollywood fairytales we all watch and get engrained in our heads that that's what we're supposed to find....but real life...messy & confusing, the way it actually is. Hard, tiresome, unfair, but also beautiful in all the ways that really matters most...love, family, & relationships. The most profound line in the movie is fittingly presented as nothing more than a passing comment and easily overlooked by the audience...much the way it is in life. Three little words...."Love is messy."

Boy could that not hit the nail on the head better! It has especially resonated loudly in my life. I look at couples around me and always think their relationships with each other seem so simple and straightforward and almost easy compared to my experiences. The irony is that a lot of people that don't know me well enough might look at me and think the same thing. And how wrong they'd be! And how wrong I probably am thinking that about others...

The more I learn about life and especially about love...the messier and more confusing it gets. Not quite what I expected, but....what in life ever is. The last line of the movie in fact..."The most important thing to plan for in life? To be surprised!" is another profound truth that we often overlook. I guess lately I'm starting to realize some things about love and about myself. I'm starting to realize...actually no, I'm starting to ACCEPT that I am a scarred man...and I always will be. And that while I have my share of physical scars, it's the ones you can't see that are the deepest and have changed me the most. In part, each and every one of them have molded me into who I am today. And, as time goes on, I become more and more thankful for each and every one of those scars even the most agonizing ones. As I have often said, I don't love easily...but when I do, it's forever. And that....makes love even messier for me....