“Gimpy” is a word that isn’t used all the much anymore. Is it because we’ve just moved past it, or is it politically incorrect? I would hate to offend the Bad-Legged-Americans out there by using an offensive word. I like “Gimpy” and I don’t even know why.
So anyway, that’s what I am today. Twisted my ankle a bit, and really, it’s just one bit muscle pull down there. I’d never thought of a sprained ankle in those terms before, but that’s what it feels like. Unless a sprain is something different. I’ve had some nasty sprains in my day. The worst one was the tragic “Duck, Duck, Goose” incident in the front yard when I was 10 or so. I just went down like a ton of bricks with no warning. The doctor told my mother I had “loose ligaments” which meant I was just a sprain waiting to happen. And sprain I did. The other worst one (cause I thought of it just now, and it was probably worse than the one mentioned above, but that one has a cooler name) was when I was 16, and I was running down the hill for the bus. Twisted that sucker and went sprawling. My books skidded down the hill in front of me. Now my mom never let us stay home for any reason, so I just limped down the rest of the way to the bus.
I was taking Driver’s Ed at the time, and the usual schedule was to wait for my dad to pick me up on his way home from work, so that’s about 5pm or later. So picture me, in horrible pain all day, having to sit there waiting for my father to arrive. By the time he got there my ankle was swollen to approximately 3 times its normal size and I couldn’t put any weight on it at ALL. I mean, this was BAD.
To this day, my mother denies that she would have made me go to school if I’d actually turned around and gone home that morning, but how was I to know it was as bad as all that? What if it wasn’t bad? It’s not like she had a car at her disposal to take me to school if I missed the bus.
So where was I going with this? Oh, right. I have an ouchy foot today, and am walking with a noticeable limp. But I came in to work anyway cause I didn’t want my mom to yell at me if I stayed home.
