I have much to be thankful for this year.
As I write this, I just might be most thankful of all to still have my teeth.
You see, if any of y’all saw the old geezer being worked on before being loaded into an ambulance last weekend before the start of the Liberty at Louisiana Tech football game, I can report he is fine and well, all things considered.
I know that because he is me.
My pride was damaged probably more than anything else, with embarrassment being the most painful part of the experience.
But all things considered, I’m feeling pretty good today, and that’s something I am very much thankful for.
It all started last Saturday, where, on a rare day that I didn’t have to work a football game, I joined my wife and daughter on a venture to Joe Aillet Stadium to watch the Liberty at LA Tech showdown.
But nobody warned me the journey could be dangerous for an aging geezer like me.
For those wondering what I am talking about, after parking and beginning our walk to the stadium, I lost my balance stepping up from the street to the sidewalk leading to the Davison Athletic Center and the center, and faceplanted. Knocked myself out cold.
Apparently a while later, I woke up in the emergency room wondering what the heck happened. I thought for a brief moment that maybe I had been hit by a car. But I then focused and remembered losing my balance and stumbling forward training to regain it, “air surfing” with flailing arms trying to keep myself upright.
Obviously I failed at that.
But after being observed in ER for a few hours, it was deemed that I ended up being pretty fortunate considering my fall, and was released to go home — with all my teeth intact.
That’s not to say I wasn’t worse for wear. If looks were the judge, the sidewalk was the winner of this fight by far. But as badly bruised, scraped and cut up as I was, I still came out of it in pretty good shape overall. I had no broken bones. My wrists are a little sore from apparently using them in a failed attempt to break my fall, but the damage was mostly cosmetic and will heal.
And the big beard I’ve had for a number of years now probably ended up being a blessing in disguise. I can tell by the pain factor that I must have hit the sidewalk first with my jaw just to the left of my chin. Full force — that was the knockout blow. But instead of splitting my jawline/chin wide open, I’ve got enough of a beard that it must have provided enough cushion to prevent that from happening.
I can feel a small cut/scrape where I landed, and I’m sure I am majorly bruised along my jaw, but it’s hidden underneath my gray beard.
The cuts and bruises on my cheeks above the beard and on my forehead, as well as around my left eye, where I have a pretty decent shiner, are a different story. They’re standing out in plain sight like a sign over my head saying, “Here’s the klutz.”
But still, all things considered, it would have been significantly worse and I have much to be thankful for.
Waking up in an emergency room after being out cold is a surreal experience.
As I started regaining my senses, I realized I had been put in a C-spine neck brace. So, one of the first things I did was lift my arms and hands and then wiggled my fingers to make sure everything still worked.
And seeing they did was truly a relieving experience. I then tried lifting my legs and moving then, and again I realized that all things considered, I had come out quite fortunate.
Laying on the gurney in the ER, alone with my thoughts as I guess I was being observed and test results being awaited while my family waited in the waiting room, my thoughts went to Grambling State quarterback C’zavian Teasett, who remains hospitalized in Las Vegas after being injured in a game there more than a month ago, during an Oct. 25 win over Jackson State.
After being tackled on the play on which he was injured, Teasett never moved again. It wasn’t immediately apparent that the tackle on that play could have caused the kind of injury it apparently did. Playing closer attention after the fact, Teasett did fall forehead first onto the turf on that play.
It all just goes to show that you never know.
What I do know this Thanksgiving Day is that I am a very fortunate man, bruised and battered face and all.
And prayers for C’zavian Teasett, in hopes that his fortunes take a turn for the better this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
