Life's Worst Lessons

Sometimes, the worst things that happen to us are the best things for us. I’ve known this now for years; and regularly, LIFE reminds me of this truth.


Over the past few weeks I have started to work out again. I do it at home with our “eclectic” collection of workout equipment/accessories. I posted on facebook yesterday my progress on the Stairmaster, which, in turn, led to a brief conversation about “impact” and my need to avoid high impact exercises due to an accident I had some sixteen years ago.

At the time of the accident, I was dating a guy I’d met at college. However, the accident occurred with a friend of mine whom I’d been camping and rock climbing with in Eastern Oregon. The short story is simply that we had a rock climbing accident which led to him injuring his back and I suffered an injury to my knee. The small hospital in Vancouver, Washington said that it was the worst break they’d seen in 25 years.

When mention of the accident came up on facebook, and my avoiding high impact, my sweet old boyfriend posted a comment . . . “knee replacement . . . still makes me mad!” I chuckled to myself, remembering how traumatic the accident was and how much it has affected my life. I shed tears over the way it changed the course of my life; and the fact that it was the second time an injury to my knee had significantly affected my life.

The first time was when I was fourteen. I had taken dance lesson (ballet, jazz and modern) since I was in first grade. I loved it! Loved the movement, the way it made me feel, the confidence it brought to me, and the pleasure that comes with performing. During performance times of the year, it was not uncommon for me to be at the dance studio six days a week. I had big dreams of going to New York to dance. Of being a professional dancer for as long as possible and then becoming a choreographer. I still believe to this day that I had a pretty good shot at fulfilling my dreams.

Shortly after graduating to point shoes, my knees began to give me problems. So much that we sought advice from an orthopedic specialist. I no longer recall what the diagnosis was called, I just recall that the groove my knee cap sat in was either too big or too small, resulting in my knee cap moving too freely and rubbing against cartilage. I was advised to stop point and if I insisted on taking dance classes, to do so in low impact classes. I was devastated. Dreams shattered - my life altered. There would be no New York, no grand stage, no choreography. Life seemed so unfair.

It was a few short years after the diagnoses of my knees that even more tragic news came. My father was diagnosed with cancer, an illness he fought from the time I was sixteen until his death s few months before my 20th birthday. The journey through his illness shaped me into being a strong young women. I grew up a little faster, but truth be told, I needed to. Had I been blessed with healthy knees, there was a pretty good chance that I would have already moved from home to pursue my dancing dreams. I would have missed the experiences I gained by being present through my father’s fight with cancer. In hindsight, both were tragic to me, but I couldn’t have experienced the later, without the first.

The same goes for my rock climbing accident. It wasn’t what I planned. It was painful, devastating, and for years it made participating in activities I loved nearly impossible. But my accident was a large part of why I moved to Las Vegas. When I moved it was a good four or five years before I met my husband; but had I not moved, I wouldn’t have met him. I can’t imagine my life without him and all the joys that our marriage and union has brought.

When I consider that our legs are made for walking, it has truly been my legs (more specifically my knees), that have “walked” me through life, through some of the worst experiences of my life, bringing me to the five best things in my life.

My husband. . .

My daughter Morgan . . .

My son Gavyn . . .

My son Asher . . . .

My daughter, Cora . . .

Were it not for these “worst” experiences, I would have missed out on the best things in my life!