This is a very inauspicious beginning to a Brand New Year. Late Last Night… My Son walked outside of a friend’s deep woods country home up in Madison, Florida into total darkness and out a ways into the local woods to relieve himself, since the house BR was in a state of “The Line Forms at The Rear” situation with so many family members and friends being present. At some point along his trek… he lost his balance; jamming his leg and foot under a large tree limb and all 6’1” 285#s of him fell awkwardly, twisting his foot around completely backwards and snapping off both the Tibia and Fibula as compound fractures at the ankle level. I only just received a Text Message advising me about this problem within the last hour.
Soon after being hurt, he ended up in the Local Hospital Emergency Room up there and after he was triaged and treated as well as could be expected, they turned his foot right ways around as best they could and casted his leg to hold things in roughly a proper position pending more required surgery. He will, as of tomorrow be seeing an Orthopedic Surgeon to have the work done ASAP with the requisite screws and pins inserted to try and fix the foot and leg back together as normal as possible. This is a real damned shame since he only recently passed his examination as a Public Claims Adjuster in his new job. This work frequently demands that he climbs ladders to access roof areas of weather damaged homes and only recently nailed down an excellent position with a good company.
Including my Wife… who broke her arm in a similar accidental fall last year… this will be the second family member to have broken bones during last year and now at the start of 2018. But I am getting ahead of myself in this unfortunate beginning for us in the New Year. This story actually began around two weeks ago in the lead up to a Christmas Holiday Visit:
Recently… My wife and I took a trip up to visit our Son, our Grand Kids, his Lady and her extended family up in Madison County, Florida. While on I-75 and traveling at around 75-80 MPH (when being pushed to move aside by STTs and impatient Drivers) ...we experienced having a Motorcyclist pull right up alongside of us ...and after giving me a slight nod, he pulled a wheel stand and rode on the fat back tire...‘Standing On the Pegs’ ...at around 90 MPH while leaning left and right to steer in and out of traffic until he was almost out of sight. Other than the expected outburst of surprise, much concern for his very life and the loud swearing that came from both of us… my wife commented, “Thank Christ that Scotty has finally outgrown that stage of doing any such dangerous and stupid behavior!.”
I thought about that for a second and really felt grateful that he had indeed survived being a typical, fist fighting, risk taker when he was a teenager and into his mid 20s and now… in his early 30s.. he has finally “settled down”. He is a Good Father in his own right and with a very good paying job now and a great family around him, we could not wait to see them all since they moved up North to be very close to Kendra’s Family last September. Once we arrived there, it was like visiting a Disney World Jurassic Theme Park.
We were “shuttled” in various 4WD vehicles on all of the rolling and hilly dirt roads over to the homes of their friends and her own family in the remote wooded areas. Once there… I had a nice chance to cautiously stretch my legs and roam around Kendra’s Family property to meet her Dad and witness first hand the effort that went into the making of their Hand Built House and their Home Made Lake that he and my Son had created ...(it was amazingly large, plastic lined and filled with Catfish) and also a Ranger Trek to their Deer Stand.
We enjoyed everyone’s very nice Welcome while being there and had several get-together visits and ate some great Country Cuisine. Later, when it came time to leave, my Wife and I had that sad sensation of being characters in that movie, “Local Hero” as visitors who really did not want to leave when our three day visit finally came to an end. Our ride home was uncommonly quiet and while driving southbound and deep in thought, I wondered if my wife was as reluctant to leave as I was. In any case… when we got home home, our two Cats stared at us and refused to come near… apparently because we were gone too long and smelled so different… and likewise, I could not shake that feeling that we were in the ‘wrong place’.
I finally asked my wife, “Honey… why not check the local Real Estate up in that area and see if we can find a place that is better suited for all concerned? After all… we are not getting any younger now and if something happens to me… you would have no one down here to look after you.” And so she scoured the local Real Estate possibilities and found something that might just fit the bill to a tee... so If all goes well... I'll get to pull this off.
Right now, with decent housing at a premium from the standpoint of meeting all of our family needs, my inclination is to buy a place large enough for all of us. My Son’s present predicament might make this happen much sooner than my reluctant Wife is ready for… but it cannot happen soon enough for me, for our Son and his Family. So I feel sorry for anyone else out there in the world who has had to start their New Year with so much misfortune. Nonetheless, I’d still like to wish a Very Happy New Year ...To One And All… And Hope That Better Days Are Coming!
This music by Mark Knofler from the movie “Local Hero” says it all:
Soon after being hurt, he ended up in the Local Hospital Emergency Room up there and after he was triaged and treated as well as could be expected, they turned his foot right ways around as best they could and casted his leg to hold things in roughly a proper position pending more required surgery. He will, as of tomorrow be seeing an Orthopedic Surgeon to have the work done ASAP with the requisite screws and pins inserted to try and fix the foot and leg back together as normal as possible. This is a real damned shame since he only recently passed his examination as a Public Claims Adjuster in his new job. This work frequently demands that he climbs ladders to access roof areas of weather damaged homes and only recently nailed down an excellent position with a good company.
Including my Wife… who broke her arm in a similar accidental fall last year… this will be the second family member to have broken bones during last year and now at the start of 2018. But I am getting ahead of myself in this unfortunate beginning for us in the New Year. This story actually began around two weeks ago in the lead up to a Christmas Holiday Visit:
Recently… My wife and I took a trip up to visit our Son, our Grand Kids, his Lady and her extended family up in Madison County, Florida. While on I-75 and traveling at around 75-80 MPH (when being pushed to move aside by STTs and impatient Drivers) ...we experienced having a Motorcyclist pull right up alongside of us ...and after giving me a slight nod, he pulled a wheel stand and rode on the fat back tire...‘Standing On the Pegs’ ...at around 90 MPH while leaning left and right to steer in and out of traffic until he was almost out of sight. Other than the expected outburst of surprise, much concern for his very life and the loud swearing that came from both of us… my wife commented, “Thank Christ that Scotty has finally outgrown that stage of doing any such dangerous and stupid behavior!.”
I thought about that for a second and really felt grateful that he had indeed survived being a typical, fist fighting, risk taker when he was a teenager and into his mid 20s and now… in his early 30s.. he has finally “settled down”. He is a Good Father in his own right and with a very good paying job now and a great family around him, we could not wait to see them all since they moved up North to be very close to Kendra’s Family last September. Once we arrived there, it was like visiting a Disney World Jurassic Theme Park.
We were “shuttled” in various 4WD vehicles on all of the rolling and hilly dirt roads over to the homes of their friends and her own family in the remote wooded areas. Once there… I had a nice chance to cautiously stretch my legs and roam around Kendra’s Family property to meet her Dad and witness first hand the effort that went into the making of their Hand Built House and their Home Made Lake that he and my Son had created ...(it was amazingly large, plastic lined and filled with Catfish) and also a Ranger Trek to their Deer Stand.
We enjoyed everyone’s very nice Welcome while being there and had several get-together visits and ate some great Country Cuisine. Later, when it came time to leave, my Wife and I had that sad sensation of being characters in that movie, “Local Hero” as visitors who really did not want to leave when our three day visit finally came to an end. Our ride home was uncommonly quiet and while driving southbound and deep in thought, I wondered if my wife was as reluctant to leave as I was. In any case… when we got home home, our two Cats stared at us and refused to come near… apparently because we were gone too long and smelled so different… and likewise, I could not shake that feeling that we were in the ‘wrong place’.
I finally asked my wife, “Honey… why not check the local Real Estate up in that area and see if we can find a place that is better suited for all concerned? After all… we are not getting any younger now and if something happens to me… you would have no one down here to look after you.” And so she scoured the local Real Estate possibilities and found something that might just fit the bill to a tee... so If all goes well... I'll get to pull this off.
Right now, with decent housing at a premium from the standpoint of meeting all of our family needs, my inclination is to buy a place large enough for all of us. My Son’s present predicament might make this happen much sooner than my reluctant Wife is ready for… but it cannot happen soon enough for me, for our Son and his Family. So I feel sorry for anyone else out there in the world who has had to start their New Year with so much misfortune. Nonetheless, I’d still like to wish a Very Happy New Year ...To One And All… And Hope That Better Days Are Coming!
This music by Mark Knofler from the movie “Local Hero” says it all:
Last edited: