Intentions gone Ironic

We traveled to Colorado for the MLK holiday this past weekend with Laura and James. Epic trips in our mini-van continue to pile up and the blessings of being with our sister Natalie and her husband John as well as my parents and grandparents there are always a gift. Andi cried on the car ride back, wailing, “I don’t want to leave Colorado. I want to stay there.” I know and feel her pain- our time in Colorado is always so rich, it’s hard to leave despite the great life we live in MO!

I had intended to unpack and clean up today. Instead, Eli’s fever of two days ago hung on so we got to keep our big brother home today. This meant Eli and Andi could play together which I was not going to interrupt! However, it also meant I didn’t put things away and couldn’t really take a step through our family room. So glad no one is stopping by today!

Back to Colorado- James and Drew were skiing two days at Copper Mountain which left Laura and I with a relaxing weekend. Part of our relaxation schedule was to visit and work out in a Colorado Crossfit gym. We were excited and a little nervous to be visitors and first timers at a gym so far from home. We went proudly donned in Crossfit Northland gear and introduced ourselves as box members in Missouri, having done Crossfit for about a year. On this “open to visitors” Saturday class, this gained us a pretty “elite athlete” status among the group. We were not going to receive a lot of the coach’s attention.

Thank goodness! I didn’t need any witnesses to what occurred 2 minutes before the workout began. Laura and I grabbed a box for the box jump portion of the WOD. It was a solid rectangle of wood constructed so that you could flip the box over and stand it up on different sides to make the height at which you jumped higher or lower. We were planning on jumping up about 20 inches but turned it to the high side (probably 28-30 inches) to see just how high, high was! It looked intimidating but Laura jumped right up. She’s got hops! I approached the box and got scared twice. Laura encouraged me just to go for it so I took a huge arm swing and began to jump. BUUUUUTTTT… my huge momentum arm swing brought my hand slamming against the edge of the box before my legs and feet could attempt their trip to the box top. The pain in my left fingers was immediately intense. I shook it out and rubbed my left ring finger knuckle but could feel the pain was pretty strong.

Eventually, all in 2 minutes, I would get faint, hot, nauseous and have to leave the workout right as the clock and coach said “Go” to find a chair for some deep breaths. I narrowly avoided passing out! Thankfully, Laura suggested I take off my wedding ring right away. I pulled myself together enough to finish the workout but was left with a very bruised and pained left ring finger. Here’s to hoping my ring ever fits again!!!

Box jump injuries are pretty common in Crossfit; the irony here lies in the fact that 90% of box jump injuries affect an athletes SHINS banging against the box, not their knuckles!

So it goes with me in life I guess.

Once while making a FROZEN mocha torte dessert for Laura’s birthday, I burned my fingertips touching a hot stove burner. An ice cream dessert burn injury! (I was making homemade hot fudge for the top layer of the desert which is why the stove was hot to my nonsensical touch!)

Going back a little further, I once intended to be faithfully taking birth control pills and discovered instead that I was 7 weeks pregnant. Elijah was born despite our prevention efforts- a life-forming kind of irony!

Going back even further, I once intended to get my haircut in Kansas City and ended up on an airplane to Colorado where I got engaged to Drew instead. It was there in the soft September snow that Drew gave me the ring that I hope will fit again soon!

I guess some of the great things and some of the times I’m reminded to slow down and be a bit more careful have been built into my life as I was intending one thing but got a whole other thing handed to me instead!