A little too ironic....

Irony: Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity.

April 10th, 2010 - A day highly anticipate by many students here on the BYU-Hawaii, including all of the current student teachers - of which I am one. Because while we aren't actually done with our student teaching until the first week of June our graduation ceremony would be on April 10th. And so the festivities ensued - graduation banquets (2 actually), the picking up of the cap and gown, the making of leis aplenty to hand out to friends, the shopping for and picking out of clothing to wear under the gown, and most importantly the decision of what shoes to wear. OK, so maybe for most it wasn't that big of a decision, but see I bought a new pair of shoes specifically for graduation.

Pretty aren't they. Not to fancy, but with a little formal sparkle. I even test drove them to church a couple of Sundays, just to make sure I wasn't going to break my neck while walking in them - 'cause I really don't wear heels much anymore. I mean, if I can direct choir in them I can do anything, right?

Now some of you may think you know where this story is headed. There were warnings given, e-mails sent and stories told of the dangers of wearing heels to graduation. No one wants to see you tripping over your own feet while making the congratulatory walk across the stage.

If only I made it that far.

My story is even more embarrassing - if that's possible. OK, maybe not embarrassing, but just.....dare I say it (the word is taboo at our house) STUPID!

Around 6:30am I woke up to find Danielle laying in bed with Cameron and I. I don't remember her climbing in, but it happens - someones usually waking up and getting in bed with us. Anyway, I briefly considered whether or not to take her down to her bed, and decided I might as well, then I could sleep in for another 15 min, comfortably, before I had to get in the shower. So like I do pretty much every night (with whomever has made it into our bed) I picked her up and proceeded to carry her downstairs to her bed. Only I thought I was all the way down the stairs, but I wasn't, so I slipped down the last step and fell. Danielle woke with a start, but was unhurt by the whole snafu, but I on the other hand had a lot of new aches and pains. The kind that make you just sit still and breath - hoping that no loudly shouted curses will escape your mouth in the presence of your children. As a few moments passed and the worst of the pains subsided, I finally looked down at my right foot where most of the stabbing pain was emanating from and gently wiggled and flexed all my toes. Everything seemed to be in working order, but I was sure I wasn't going to braving the heels after all. Not after a fall like that.

And then I stoop up.

And silently screamed out in pain.

And then I look down.....I wish I had had the presence of mind to take a picture of it, but I was worried about more important things like how was I going to get to the bathroom before my bladder exploded and then back upstairs to tell Cameron what happened. But close your eyes and picture this. Well, ok, don't close your eyes, because then you can keep reading - so just picture it. Left foot - big toe, just fine, first toe, isn't all crooked and weird looking - but its always that way, I just have weird ugly toes, middle toe ----- ok, wait, it's not supposed to be pointing off to the left, is it? I don't remember it being that way before. The gap between those 2 toes - the one that is usually not there because those toes love each other very much was a large 'V'. Kind of like my toes where trying to tell me to "live long and prosper" - though the 'V' was between the wrong toes, but you get the picture right?

There was no way I walking into the bathroom 3 feet away, much less walking across the graduation stage in a couple of hours. Instead I hobbled around the house enough to inform everyone of the situation and get myself dressed and the down to the car for a road trip into town to go to the emergency room. Not exactly the walk I had in mind for the day, but none the less, that's what it was.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. By the time my mom and I got home from the ER it was noon and I could see all my fellow graduates walking back home under a load of leis. Kind of a bittersweet moment, but honestly I'm not even done with school, so I'm not really all that upset. Now I'll just have to have a party when I really am done so I have get my few minutes to celebration in.

Not that I didn't get any recognition. On Monday I was greeted by my cooperating teacher at school, who made me a beautiful green (both of our favorite color) lei that I will be wearing every Sunday, along with a rose bouquet and a graduation gift. She spoiled me for sure. My friend Tricia also gave me a tuber rose lei to wear on Monday that smelled so wonderful - I had students coming up and sniffing me all day. And of course I had many, "We missed you"s and "Where were you"s over the next couple of days.

This picture does not do the lei justice - just FYI.

The good news is that I seem to be doing OK. My toe/foot is feeling better everyday. I'm no longer sporting a cool cast shoe and can actually fit my toes into a few pairs of shoes. Mostly I just have to be careful not to stand with my weight on my left foot and to sit down often - which surprisingly hasn't been too difficult, even at school.

Since I neglected to take a before shot, at least you have a during shot - here's by toe tonight, all snugged up to my second toe. And no, the second toe is not broken, too. It's always been that way.

OK, well, it's only taken me a week to get this posted, but better late than never, right?

PS: Good news - I know some of you have been up many nights over the last 2 years worrying about my lack of Strawberry-Kiwi crystal light availability in Hawaii. I know you have - you've been trying to come up with ways to keep me supplied (well, at least my mom was:) But you can now rest easy. I've finally found a store that stocks it. Thank you Target - it's about time!

pps: I really hate that blogger doesn't let you move the pictures around anymore - it sucks.

ppps: But I guess I'll forgive them because I can cut and paste before posting now.