Beautifully Broken

1

I stand with my back to the cabins and my front to the lake. It's dawn, and no one will be awake. It's the same routine for me every morning.

Get up before the sun rises. Throw on some shorts and a tank top. Bug spray myself down. Hook on my leg.

Then I make my way through the dimly lit woods to the mouth of the lake. One of these days I'll take a canoe out. That's what I tell myself anyway. I guess I'm over taking risks since the one time I decided to, I came out with one leg instead of two. Although, I've thought about the meaning of my accident and how maybe it was a sign to start living a life of thrill. Who really knows?

I watch the sun slowly peek over the Colorado hills and mountains. The lake is still and the air is cool enough to send a chill up my spine every twenty seconds.

I breathe in the musky smell of morning dew. It's not all that pleasant or calming to me, but it's better than cow manure on the farms back home. I watch as fish sputter to the surface of the lake and create waves that drift across the mirrored sky.

I figure I better head back soon, as I'll have to wake the grumpy grasshoppers up. I struggle to lift myself up to my feet as the sand causes my shoes to slip downward. My upper arm strength has become impeccable since I lost my right leg. Then again, losing a major supporting balance is a great way to gain a lot of muscle on everything you have left.

I retreat back to camp slowly and drift off into a distant daydream, wondering what I'd be doing now if I hadn't lost my leg. Would I still be a counselor at this Colorado summer camp for disabled children? Probably not. I'd probably be home with my family and old friends, relaxing on the beach after a long freshman year of college. But here I am now.

I have no regrets about my life. I appreciate the sympathy others choose to feel for me, but I am just a normal human being. We all go through trials and troubles in our lives. Mine just happened to be more intense than most. Granted, there are the unfortunate ones who went through something worse than I.

Life is a journey through the Colorado mountains. There are slopes and steep hills and avalanches and rock slides. The real prize is the breathtaking beauty of the journey to get to where you're going.

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