Growing Up

When I was in 6th grade, my family went to Florida for vacation during spring break. I had anticipated it for weeks and I couldn't wait to hop on that plane. We arrived late on a Friday night and spent Saturday sightseeing. On Sunday we drove to Anna Maria Island, where my grandparents had rented a condo. We spent the morning swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. Early in the afternoon, I went inside to get something and didn't get my feet dried off all the way. I took one step onto the linoleum and slipped. On my descent to the floor, I sliced my foot on a screw sticking out of the floor in the doorway. I don't remember a whole lot after that, it was all blood and confusion and tears. After a fairly short debate, my parents decided I needed to go to Urgent Care. We left my sister with my grandparents and drove inland. I had to wait over an hour before they would see me. When I finally got in, they gave me stitches in my foot. It hurt when they gave the shots, but other than that it was too bad. We went back to our hotel in Orlando that night. In the following five days of our trip I went around places like Disney World and Sea World in a wheelchair because I wasn't supposed to walk on my foot. It was really frustrating to not be able to go certain places because my wheelchair wouldn't fit, and I also had to wait for someone to help me move, because I wasn't very adept at moving around on my own. However dismal this situation may seem (or may have seemed to me at the time), it actually helped me to grow up a little. It helped me to sympathize with people who have to be in wheelchairs all the time. I realized I was really lucky that I only had to do that for a week. I also learned the power of optimism. When I heard that I had to be in a wheelchair, I was disappointed, but I tried to remain upbeat. There ended up being a lot of things that actually worked out better than they might have otherwise. I think maybe we all grow up, a little, all the time. The bad things end up being good, some of the good things go bad, but we learn from all of them.