Give 'Em Hell!

So, I just got back from my three day colorguard camp in Burkburnett, TX. Three glorious, fun-filled days with 20 high school girls, teaching them their routines for the fall marching show, for 7 1/2 hours a day. Oh yeah! This was my fourth year to go down there. It's kind of strange...I never would have imagined that I'd still have this gig. Not after four years. Not after moving to KC. But I do. And I still love it; even when I hate it, I love it.

Camp started bright and early at 7:30 Monday morning. By 8:00, something in my right knee had popped, started to swell, and I couldn't straighten my leg or put pressure on it. Fantastic. 30 minutes into the very first day and I've already suffered a debilitating injury. Kinda hard to teach a fall show that's set to "Riverdance" when I can't move my leg.

Hobbled around the rest of the day and had Anita, the guard sponsor, take me to Wal-Mart so I could get a knee brace, ibuprofen, and Biofreeze.

"Didn't this happen one other year you were here?"

"Anita, this has happened every year I've been here," I said. "I have a knee brace to represent each year I've come down to teach."

One would think that, by now, I should know to pack at least one of these worth-their-weight-in-gold knee braces when I head out to West Texas. One would think, wouldn't one.

That evening, I took my 2000 miligrams of ibuprofen, iced and elevated my leg, slathered on the Biofreeze, and secured the brace.


Ahhh....


Tuesday.
10:00 am.
Burkburnett High School.

Going through the moves of the routine, and -- Sharp, searing pain beneath the patela of my left knee.

Damn.
It.
ALL!

The pain was excruciating. I contemplated asking Anita to take me to the ER. This one was bad, I could feel it. She was about to leave to run errands and would be back later. I decided I'd try to stay calm and see if the pain would just go away once I started ignoring it. (Sound medical advice -- Ignore it and it will go away. I think that's fairly solid relationship advice as well. Hmmm.... I digress.) This time, not only was my knee swelling, but there was pain when I moved my leg in the slightest. Not great.

I called the girls over and explained the predicament. I knew that trying to teach them their show verbally, not visually, would be just as frustrating for them as it was for me. I asked for their patience and, with flying colors, they came through for me.

When Anita returned, I told her that I'd be teaching from my spot on the floor for a while. She had been teasing me on Monday that I might have to teach from a wheel chair. She reminded me that it was supposed to have been a joke. I called David and told him I'd only bought one knee brace. Didn't really think to buy two. Who knew?

By late Tuesday afternoon, I was walking, ever so gingerly. What a relief. But then I discovered, it's really hard to limp on both legs. Comes out looking more like a waddle. Tuesday evening, both knees were iced and elevated, I'd upped my dosage to 2500 miligrams of ibuprofen, and smeared on about a half a tube of Biofreeze. In bed by 9:00 pm.

Wednesday, I taught from my chair. My left leg was tender but not a major concern. The right one, however, was still aggravated and so it earned the coveted knee brace for the day. Our camp was supposed to end at 3:30 that afternoon. We finished the show at 3:26. A whopping four minutes left to spare! Why, that's practically unheard of! I still had time to tell them formally how much I appreciated all their hard work and how happy I was to have been there again this year.

And then, it was over.

We went back to Anita's house and I was officially off the hook. My plane was leaving OKC on Thursday. I took the rest of the evening off.

*****

Wednesday, the final day of camp was also the four-year anniversary of my father's death. I talked to Jamie and she couldn't believe it had already been four years. On one hand, it seems like it only just happened, maybe a year or so ago. But then again, I'm just certain I've lived at least six lifetimes since my father passed. I also realized that last year, at this time, Lauren had only been gone a couple of months. I went to Burk last year only two months after her death. Once I started thinking about it, I remembered that I had tried and tried to make it over to Plainview and couldn't. And I wasn't able to see Jamie or Mamy or Stef either. It was like I had been smuggled down there under the cover of darkness or something crazy like that. Burk might as well have been in Siberia....because even though I was only a few hours from everyone, I wasn't able to see anyone. That was a strange time, in every way.

And so it was this year, too. I flew in to OKC, drove to Burk, stayed three days and drove back. I did get to have lunch in Chickasha with an old college friend of mine, Shirley. His name's Billy, but we call him Shirley. (Yes, there's a story behind it. No, I'm not going to tell it right now.) Hadn't seen him in years and it was great to spend some time with a familiar face.

On the way back to OKC, the scenery was beautiful. Everything looked familiar and I missed it all. I began thinking about us living in KC. I love it up here, I do. But I sure do miss home. ...Or, maybe I just miss familiar surroundings. Because, home is where? At this point, I think I have too many "homes" to count. And I miss them all.

Will write soon.

All my love!