Some Beach

This is the story of how a beautiful day turned out painfully and of how miraculously I survived it.

On Sunday afternoon (2/3), I grabbed my camera and went down to the beach to see what I could see.  It was an awesome day! We'd had rain before, and we would have rain again, but there's nothing like a respite in between.  I'll show you some photos from my walk and tell you what happened at the end.

That barrel is pretty big in person. There are no markings on it.

The waves were fun to watch on Sunday afternoon

I always enjoy a visit to "my" rocks.

I was on the beach, the tide came in, and then I was in the water.

I love this rock that looks like a marble egg.

I think it's cool when the water laps over an interesting rock.

I never tire of these "butterfly" shells.

The birds were out fishing, as usual.

As I said, it was a great walk. I went back to the house, locked the beach gate, and climbed up to the lower patio, where I washed my feet and beach shoes, preparing to dry my feet and step back into my shoes. While washing up, I placed a few sand dollars, my gate key, and my camera on a shelf where they wouldn't get wet. As I always do, I stepped my left foot onto the hose and reached over to turn off the water, and then I stepped off of the bricks with my right foot. Up until now, this has been routine.  No worries! 

This time, my right foot slipped on the wet tile, and I started to fall backward. Attempting to catch my balance, I twisted my left knee sharply to the left, and down I went onto my back.  The result was a sprain of my left knee and some pain in my left foot. I managed to get up by getting onto my right knee and pulling myself up by holding onto the structure where I'd placed my keys, camera, and shells. I didn't have my phone, and Don was taking a nap and probably wouldn't have heard if I had called. I limped in, put the keys away, locked and barred the door, and then made a painful 20-stair climb to the living room. For the first 24 hours or so, I couldn't move my leg without excruciating pain in my knee, but it is getting much better, and I am mostly dealing with occasional pangs and discomfort now.

What amazes me is what could have happened!  I could have broken one or more bones, hit my head on the bricks, or seriously injured my back. I am almost 73! 

I learned from this experience to keep my phone with me, even if I don't think I'll need it, to put a mat by the washing station so that I don't have a repeat of the foot slipping out from under me, and to be even more careful, but the main thing I learned was what my grandma always said, "The Lord takes care of fools and children."  I am deeply grateful that He was watching over me!