Yesterday was a glorious day here in southern Illinois. The temps were in the high 60's, it was partially sunny with a very slight breeze...just a beautiful day.
So, naturally, we didn't want to sit inside; we wanted to be outdoors. We decided that we'd cook out and whilst we were waiting for the coals to be ready we (Dave and I) got our ball gloves out and played a little catch.
Being British and all baseball's not really my game. We do have something like baseball in the UK, but we call it 'rounders' - the bat's much shorter and we don't use gloves. So, the concept of playing with a glove was somewhat alien to me until about 5 or 6 years ago when my husband persuaded me to play catch with him one afternoon. I'm somewhat used to it now, but I still have a few bad habits, like not getting behind the ball when I go to catch it, and occasionally I'll grab at it and send it spinning out of my mitt.
Yesterday afternoon was the first time we played catch since I had my spine fused last summer. A few of my bad habits were manifesting themselves, so I was concentrating hard on getting behind the ball and not grabbing at it.
All I remember is this: I had a ball coming right at me. Next thing I know there's stars blasting all over my field of vision, a white blast of pain across my face, and I have my hand up on my nose. I can hear myself saying "I think my nose is broken" and I can feel my hand in my mouth checking to see if all my teeth are still intact, and I was trying to walk but my legs wouldn't do what I was telling them to do everything went a bit grey.....
....and before I know it I'm sitting in the grass crying and my husband's holding me up saying "it's okay, she's okay" and I look up and see three worried little faces looking down at me and my son's saying "Is her nose busted, Dad?" .
I don't know how it happened, but I do know that I tried to catch a ball with my face. My lip and nose are still a bit swollen and painful and I have a headache. My front teeth are intact and aren't wobbly, but when I for up this morning and brushed my teeth a chunk of molar fell off into my mouth. I guess I probably have a bit of a concussion because I'm feeling discombobulated still, but I don't think I need to go to the doctor. Or should I/ I don't know, I can't think straight. It hurt, y'all. I wouldn't recommend anyone else try it; it's not that much fun and you could mess up your profile and smile in the process. Unless you want a nose job for free, that is, then this method is your best bet (unless you have the kind of friends who will punch you in the snout for free, then I'd say that THAT'S the best way to get a free rhinoplasty).
I'm not making a whole lot of sense, am I? Sorry, I'm still feeling a bit......umm....off center. Like when I first wake up in the morning; I know where I am and everything, but the fine details take a few seconds to sink in. Yeah, that's what I feel like now. Like I said before, I'm discombobulated. I don't know if that's normal, I've never taken a ball to the face before. I do know that my head hurts and it hurts to bite into things and that my snout's sore and now it's swollen it's even uglier than it normally is. I guess it's normal; you don't get to get smacked with a hard object travelling at a fair old rate of speed and not have any after effects.
Maybe I should think about getting a hockey goalie mask and a mouth guard before I play catch again.
Then again, I could just learn to get behind the fucking ball.