Discovering the True Meaning of Fall

 

Discovering the True Meaning of Fall

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 27, 2020

Last week I spent some time belly-aching about the changing colors on the trees.  It's a mixed bag for me because although I think the leaves are quite beautiful, it's hard to not look at them and recognize the inevitable.  Winter is coming.  This week, though, we had the opportunity to discover the true meaning of fall.

And by Fall, I mean this silly changing of the season caused Miss Sheri to have a nasty Fall which required a trip to the emergency room and 6 stitches in her kneecap.  Let me explain.

 Since April, we have been taking a 2 mile walk nearly every day.  For the most part, we follow the same path through our neighborhood including this quiet little cemetery that sits nestled next to Prior Lake.  We were walking the dog down this path, deep in conversation, and not really paying attention to the walk that we've done many, many times before.

But Fall is here and with those leaves changing colors, also comes an incredible number of acorns and sticks that fall to the ground.  We believe she stepped on a group of acorns just right that then acted like marbles and shot her right foot up into the air.  Her momentum brought her entire weight down onto her left knee onto the cement.   On top of that cement was a stick which I think pierced her kneecap.  When she showed it to me, I was surprised to see that her kneecap was split wide open, but not bleeding.  I could see a bunch of white stuff in there I didn't recognize which I'm assuming is some kind of cartilage.  Just gross.  So now she’s laying on the path and can’t move. And we are 1 mile into our walk.  I contemplated calling 911, but it wasn’t bleeding so I’m going to get the car.  I try to run. I get maybe 500 yards before I’m like screw that.  So I start fast walking the dog home, dragging his butt because now that I’m in a weakened state from the running he wants to stop and smell things.  Anyways, I eventually get the car, pick her up, go to the ER and she gets 6 stitches in her knee.  Other than that, it's been a pretty mellow week at the Swank house.

We have a new albino squirrel in our yard who has been visiting us quite often.  I think we've seen him every day this week.  We like to think of these guys as our guardian angels.  Although one could argue that it was unfortunate that Miss Sheri had a fall like she did, we prefer to think of it as a blessing.  Because ultimately it could have been much worse.  It doesn't appear she will have any long term damage to her knee, so we are certainly thankful for that.  We hope you all have a great week as well!