A Sporty Weekend

It was a sports sort of weekend. And the weather was absolutely, perfectly gorgeous. Cloudless blue skies, mild sun warmth, clear autumn light. Just feel good weather.

I haven't been able to get to the last few of Olivia's rugby games as they've been a few hours away. Now that she's graduated, she no longer plays for the high school age Knightmares. She is now on the women's Thorns. Saturday, the game was down in the Brandywine region. Not far from Andrew Wyeth's home and the Brandywine River Museum. Love that place.

I didn't take Olivia as she rode with some of her teammates. So, I didn't have to leave here until around 9:45am. When I got to Rte 30, I was suddenly stuck in tourist traffic. Those of you who have ever been to the Lancaster quilt show, know about Rte 30. Not up to the traffic it carries. Especially after it narrows to 2 lanes past Rockvale Square shopping mall. So, I took a street that would lead me over to Strasburg and past the steam railroad museum. More tourist traffic, of course. But once I get past the railroad, there is none and it's a quick drive down to Gap. Just before getting to the railroad, the road forks. The road to Gap goes right by the trains and is the left arm of the fork. I have done this dozens of times. Where the heck was my brain that made me take the right fork and end up wandering around in Amish country? Which made me late for the game start. Sheesh. TG for my Garmin GPS or I would have been in Delaware without a clue.

I finally got there and the girls had been playing for 5 minutes or so. They started late or I would have missed 15-20. I wasn't in the mood to drag my chair the length of the field to where the girls were set up. There were only 1 or 2 parents there. I parked about 10 yards from the goal post and set my chair up by the car. I had to use the binoculars as most of the action took place at the other end of the field. The Thorns were getting tromped. I think the final score was 30-5. In rugby, a Try is worth 5 points and the extra point is 2. Try being the same thing as a touchdown.

The warm sun did a job on me and I kept dozing off. Suddenly, I lurched into full alert and opened my eyes. At the other end of the field, a player was down and thrashing around. I could hear her screaming/crying from where I sat. I just knew it was Olivia. A quick scan with the binoculars told me that I was right. It wasn't one of those down for a minute and back into the game types of player down. She was down for a good 5-10 minutes. I knew we were going to the ER before they picked her up. So, I threw my chair in the trunk and my other stuff in the back seat. I was going to drive down along the sidelines, but 4 girls carried her up to me and were nearly there before I could even get in the car. She was in bad shape and I thought she might have broken her tibia. She had tackled someone and that girl fell right on top of O's lower leg. Girl was no lightweight and ground was hard. Something had to give.

Several players from the other team had helped bring her up and one told me how to get to Chester Hospital. She also gave me her cell #. After we got started, Olivia said she wanted to come home and go to "our" hospital. Lancaster General. An hour away from where we were. She said she was fine as long as she didn't move. Since we had to drive by where Phyllis was working, I called to give her a heads up about her baby. She freaked just as Olivia had said she would. I understood completely. Far from her baby, couldn't leave work. Lots of texting went on Saturday afternoon. In Gap, we swung by McD's for some sweet tea. Then, by the Rainbow Dinner Theater so Phyllis could check O out for herself.

On to the hospital in mid-city Lancaster. 2 security guards and a nurse got her out of the car and into a wheelchair. By the time I parked & got back to the ER, she had already been thru triage and had her pager. Shannon was at work. So, she came down for awhile until she had to go back to get evening meals ready. She also brought me a lovely hot cup of Constant Comment tea. It really hit the spot.
She was working ICU this weekend. The end result of all this was no broken leg and no hairline fracture they could see. The diagnosis was a contusion and possible the bone was bruised also. Her leg was wrapped with an Ace bandage and she was given crutches to add to her crutch collection. We were only at the ER for about 2 hours. So much better than they used to be. And, yes, I know an ER is not a first come, first served sort of place. But it was still fast. Because the weather was so fine Saturday, it was the sort of day where people get injured a lot.

We ate at Bob Evans on the way home swung by the CVS to get her Vicodin prescription. Then, I took her home, got her situated on the couch and brought my own self home. Where I collapsed at the computer.

Yesterday, one of her rugby buddies picked her up and they drove down to Westchester University to watch another rugby buddy's game. I think they played Penn State, but not sure. Phyllis, her neighbor and I went to the last Barnstormer's baseball game of the season. Another perfect day. We left at the end of the 7th inning. The Stormers were ahead and Phyllis was tired. She had called Olivia to see if she was on her way home. O invented a new word. She said she was "crutching" her way up a hill and would call mom back in a few minutes. I love that word. I could just see her going up the hill on her crutches. If Saturday happened to me, I'd be on heavy drugs still. I think she's taken 2 pills. She was pretty tired last night. I don't know how she's managing her crutches and text books at school today. Is there a law somewhere that college textbooks must weight 20 lbs. each?

And we 3 at the baseball game had a grand time, too. Since it was the last game, people were partying all over and the Clipper was giving out lots of stuff. The weather certainly contributed to the general good feeling. A win just iced the cake for us all.