I DIDN'T SEE IT COMING!
The ice was buttery smooth beautiful. Almost no one was at the rink with all the kids back at school, so it was wonderfully serene. Only the Coffee Club Goddesses were present and few others mulling about. I stepped on the ice full of sweet anticipation of feeling the new adjustments made to my skate by Phil Kuhn, maker of my glorious skates and president of Harlick Skates. Ahhhh, the sweetness of anticipation!!!!
So on the ice I go, and my experience was met with the sweetness equal to that of my anticipation. No resistance in that formerly pesky skate, I was able to feel the wonderful feeling of GLIDING with both feet!
All the women are wonderful, and every time I attend, my heart is refreshed by the friendships and encouraging support of each and every one of these amazing ladies. I began working on what I'd formerly written in my blog of that "AH-HA" moment of committing to the edge by the way I held my body, taught to me by Jane Moody some sessions ago. I just didn't have that 'feel' as I'd experienced during my AH-HA moment, but I was working it.
Karen, a beautiful 70 year old ice dancer, who's hair is always perfect, her make up always meticulously applied to bring out the elegance that she embodies, took at least 20-30 minutes of her own skate time to show me details on how to execute what she saw me trying to do on my own. I was so grateful, as I always am, when someone takes their time on the ice to show me something, give me a tip, etc.
So there I am, skating on one of the four huge painted circles beneath the ice, practicing this foundational skating move Karen had just shown me.
I didn't see it coming, neither did she. Karen was skating backwards, ready to execute an ice dance move, so she was coming fast with plenty of power at a curve that prevented her from seeing me. I saw it a a split second before the impact of our collision and there was nothing I could do to get out of the way. We hit hard, I slid after we hit, both of us down. I wasn't hurt, but to my horror, she lay curled up, unmoving, her back to me, her ice halo flying off her head. Of course when anyone falls, all the others call, "are you alright?" But their calls were met with silence from Karen and she remained unmoving, lying on the ice. She impacted her shoulder hard, and all the women came skating over. One lady helped me up, and several gathered around Karen. Jayne, the coach worked with her, telling her not to move, don't try to get up and applied all her professionalism and experience to the situation. I held Karen's ice halo, which sailed my way in the collision, and I also remained down on the ice.
Emotion and horror gripped me and I lost it, seeing her crumpled unresponsive body. No thoughts flooded, such as guilt or any of those self-centered wonderments, only horror had me gripped fully in its embrace. Gently, after some time, Jayne and some others assisted Karen to get up safely and get her off the ice. Haruni held onto me and escorted me off the ice, as I was clearly having enough of a melt down to melt the ice!
The women were reassuring me that this happens, accidents happen, collisions happen, it's no one's fault, "It was not your fault, Ave," they reassured me. They were working with Karen to assess the damage to her shoulder, which evidently was rather extreme. "And tomorrow's my birthday!" she exclaimed. "And now I'm going to miss my lesson with Chris in 15 minutes!" But even Karen, in her pain reassured me it wasn't my fault. Luckily, I had some ibupropen and offered it, which she took immediately. I felt a molecule of relief that I could assist in some way, by having this medication.
One of our very beautiful and graceful young women came up to me when I was emoting heavily and she asked if we would like to pray. She lead a beautiful prayer to our Lord Jesus which brought immediate peace upon the circle as clearly, she is a being of light. With her spirit and focus and the most beautiful prayer spoken with such depth, she was able to bring the healing power of the Creator that loves us all and knows all our needs even when we don't. It was a very powerful and sacred time of all of us coming together within the light of Christ and the love we all have for each other.
Karen left after a little while, saying she was ok to drive home as she is right handed and the damage was to the left shoulder. It was difficult to get back on the ice as I clearly had an immediate case of PTSD, but I made myself get back out there, and in honor of Karen, I made myself practice the precise exercise I was doing when the impact occurred.
I fell two other times today, sustaining no injuries for which I am well padded and extremely grateful. There were very few of us on the ice today and this remained the case.
Before going home, I decided to go to eat a full and grounding meal as I knew I needed something more than my usual diet of nutrition packed smoothies (due to my current jaw issue, chewing food is too painful)....I am grateful for the nutritional supplements one can put into a smoothie!
I just received a call from Karen, and indeed the bone that caps the shoulder is cracked!!! She asked if I got hurt in the impact and we spoke some time of ice dancing, using edges, the collision, our instructors and our group. It was a beautiful conversation. Tomorrow this Goddess will be 71 and she is the most beautiful ice dancer, which btw, ice dancing incorporates difficulty levels that exceed the fancy jumps and spins the public is used to seeing figure skaters execute. Karen will call me Tuesday after she sees the orthopedic specialist to let me know if surgical repair is required, meanwhile, pain medication is definitely in order.
This is my new family, my beautiful, graceful, thoughtful amazing group of women who care for each other and have a camaraderie I have truly never known on this level. I am graced by God to have come into this circle. In honor of Phil and these women, I am DETERMINED to win a medal in some competition, somewhere, some time, and when I'm on that podium, I will dedicate it to each of these glorious beings who have brought a new light into my life, a new upliftment to my spirit. When I am in their company, I feel like I am truly home, where I belong.
Thank you, my Coffee Club Goddesses and Phil & Ginger Kuhn, each of you are my hero.
