If you’re friends with me, you’ve likely seen this picture. Our youngest son, Myles, broke his leg skiing last Saturday. It was a warm-ish day for Minnesota. The sun was shining, and even though the wind was blowing, we were just glad it was above 0. It had been -60 wind chill just a few days earlier, so were thankful it felt almost 80 degrees warmer! His friends from his old school came to ski for the day near Alexandria. While Cameron & Dallas were off ice fishing, Myles & I went skiing. We were there early, got our gear on and hit the slopes. One of the friends hadn’t gone skiing before, so they spent a little time on the bunny hill. Before long, they were on the green runs, then the blue. Myles and his two friends had gone skiing many times and felt comfortable on the slopes. We live in Minnesota, so these are hills and not mountains. The runs aren’t long and the resort isn’t large. We let them go on their own.

We were able to get them to stop and have lunch, and then it was back to the slopes. As the day went on, they talked about switching from skiing to go tubing. You stand on a magic carpet (with your tube) and ride to the top of the hill. Then you pick a “lane” and sail off down the hill. That was the plan anyway. Just another run or two and then tubing. I was putting my skis in the locker when the friends’ mom came in. “Um, you might want to come out. I think Myles is in trouble.” My first thought went to trouble meaning he was goofing around and was about to get kicked out. As I walked out the door, I saw the snowmobile & ski patrol trailer. Oh, trouble. I could see he was conscious, so I ran back inside to change into my snow boots (because I knew I couldn’t run up the hill in my ski boots.) I ran back outside & up the hill as fast as I could. They were loading him onto the ski patrol trailer. His boot was off and his right leg was in a splint.

We rode to the ski patrol lodge and they carried him into the building. They checked him over, and advised us to make a trip to the ER. As scary as this is, I was just glad he didn’t hit his head, he was wearing a helmet and he wasn’t impaled by a tree. You see, he fell going through a wooded area. There was a path there so they thought it must be fine. It’s not a “marked run”. His buddy went before him but Myles got going too fast & couldn’t slow down. He passed his buddy & hit a tree. Another kid saw it happen from the chair lift and went down to check on him & get help.

Super long story, but the next 5 hours were spent in the ER, and then extreme pain caused us to go back to the ER at 3am. He had broken both bones in his leg, right where the top of the ski boot was. 8-10 weeks in a full leg cast up to the top of his thigh, then smaller cast to follow. Whatever I had planned for the next 4 months was going to change. Maple syrup demonstration at the State Park? Cancel. Trip to Disneyland? Adjust. Spring plans? Alter. When we think we have things all planned out, we might get thrown a curve ball. It’s a reminder that we can’t control everything. There is an ad on the station I listen to that says, “God’s not done with your story yet, stop trying to take the pen.” While this event won’t immediately change me to be a non-planner, it certainly is a reminder to me of what a control freak I can be.

I’m thankful he is ok. He will get through this and will be fine. My journey of enough will switch to being a good enough caregiver for a little while. Whatever your altered path is, I wish you peace on that journey. Sometimes it doesn’t go as planned, but that doesn’t mean we should stop planning, dreaming or trying to change. It just means you might need a different color pen.