New York, Nu York: Get Hurt, Count Blessings

By ELLEN LEVITT
So far this has been a mild winter for the northeastern states of the USA. Many people seem happy about this, but certain groups of people are not: vendors of snow shovels and heavy, waterproof winter clothing and people involved in skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing. My older daughter and I sort into the latter category: we love to ski and we were disappointed not to have an opportunity to ski during December. So we were rather relieved that the ski slopes near us, in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, were promising decent snow conditions for this weekend.
This is a long weekend, thanks to the Federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And while it may seem too light-hearted to ski on such an important man's birthday, we did go. (We also talked about his achievements while we drove in the car, and at shul on Shabbat morning, I listened as a congregant read one of his famous letters from the bimah.)
My daughter and I were having a pretty good first time on the ski slopes: Saturday night we got our passes and even though it was dark, the slope conditions were good. Fun was had! Sunday morning we went to another area slope, and while I did manage to cut my right index finger and bleed all over part of my ski boot, we still had a fun time. We skied the terrain park and whooped it up.
But after lunch we skied an easy slope and I got hurt. An out-of-control guy on skies crashed into me. I fell awkwardly and hurt my left knee badly. I began screaming a steady stream of curse words at him, and he managed to hightail it away. But it took me a while to get down the slope. I scooted down on my tuches, then I had to scrape ice off both my boots in order to reattach my skis. Then I winced a lot. Somehow I managed to drive with my girl, to another ski resort, meet up with some friends, and ski more. But after a few runs, I had to give up. My knee ached way too much.
My left knee became seriously stiff. I have to go for an acupuncture session, and I truly hope that will be enough.
Yet I am still grateful. Why?
First of all, I am grateful that I was not hurt more severely. I did not lose consciousness. I was able to get up on my own and get down. Even though I had to rely on a ski pole to use in lieu of a cane, I have able to walk around. I did not have to go to the hospital.
Second, this accident did not happen to my daughter. She did suffer a different kind of disappointment: someone took her ski poles. We filed a missing property report, and we have extra poles at him (albeit not exactly the size she prefers to use). But she did not get hurt, and I am relieved.
Third, I sustained an injury but did not lose my eye glasses, nor my wallet, or get a head injury. (I wear a helmet. You should too. I wear a helmet for skiing and bike riding, So should you.)
So lest you think I am Pollyanna reincarnated, I am annoyed but I will survive this. And I look around at other people this week and weekend who had it much worse than I: the mother of six who was stabbed to death in her home in Israel; the 15 year old girl who tried to jump from one Manhattan apartment building to another, but fell to her death. And the people of Flint, Michigan, who are dealing with a catastrophe because their drinking water has been poisoned, by bad government decisions. Yes, I can be unhappy about what happened to me, but I do put it in perspective. And I try to let that be one of the themes of my life.