Black Eye Me

Categories: Uncategorized Feb 13, 2014

I recently acquired a black eye. Well, I also acquired four stitches over my right eye. I got busted up on my "eye brow bone." No, I wasn't in a fight. I am more of a sprinter, really. Altercations and Grizzly Bears are no big deal if you can out run them. I actually got kicked in the face with a football cleat. Do you know how I got kicked in the face? I was playing football! Flag football, that is.

To be honest, I am not altogether sure how I received a cleat to the eye. I was covering a receiver on a fly route (straight down the field), I had the ball in sight, it was mine. Then, another defender met the receiver and I in midair. A couple of flips and tumbles later, I was hit. When I got up off the ground, I looked like Rocky Balboa after fighting Drago.

Do you know what? It hurt. A little. But I would do it again. In fact I tried, but apparently if you are bleeding all over the place, they make you get off the field. I did find some bandaids and I was able to patch myself up so I could return to the game. So that was good. Then, AFTER the game, I drove to urgent care to get sewn up. I probably should have just stopped playing and gone ahead to the fast medic, but I wanted to play. It was the last game of the season, and I wanted to play every single play I had opportunity to.

Today, 6 days later, my eye is black. Well, really it is blue, yellow, and purple. In fact, I actually think all the colors of the rainbow are exhibited on my face. Yes, I have a ROYGBIV eye! But you know what? I would do it again. I would take another cleat to the eye. Well, maybe the other eye. On second thought, I think it would be best just to play and not get kicked in the eye at all.

My point is, I love playing football. I really enjoy being able to run "like the wind blows." There is nothing more freeing that being able to run, and run fast. And, few things spark a "wild vitality" in me like being able to compete in a game of speed, skill, and strategy. It just feels good to be able to play, to know you can play, to know you are able and capable of running people down who are half your age, to believe in your heart that you are the fastest person on the field, that you have no limits. Like I said, it is a wild vitality.

It is kind of funny, this incident happened on the heels of our last post "Get In The Game." I got in the game, and then BLAM! Right in the eye.....

Here is a question for you, again on the heels of our last post: Is there something that gives you a sort of wild vitality? Is there something that brings you to life and makes you feel invincible? Have you ever felt that way? Do you remember what it feels like to feel that way? Do you get opportunities to feel that way now?

Maybe playing sports doesn't make you feel this way. Maybe it is taking hikes up hills of wonder or paddleboarding out in the crystal, clear, blue sea. Maybe it is simply wrestling with your kids while their giggles soothe your soul. Whatever it is that fuels this wild vitality within you, do you get to do it? And, just as important, are you able to do it? Or, are you limited by old injuries, nagging "issues", or fears of "i'm getting too old."

In our last post, we talked about getting in the game, about participating in life and how we are not supposed to be spectators. My experience with the cleat to the eye really highlighted this for me. I was kicked in the eye and I didn't want to leave the field. I didn't want to miss a play. It wasn't because I think I am tough. Heck, one centimeter to the left and my eye ball would have been hit instead of my eye brow bone. I can promise you that I would have wanted to leave the field then! I didn't want to miss a play because I was having fun. I felt like I had no limits. I felt alive.

Don't get me wrong. Life is about so much more than sports. But sports and games are fun. They lend themselves to feeling alive, feeling joy, feeling excitement. We were made for these good things. We were made for fun; to run like the wind, to tie our kids into pretzels, to paddle out over rolling waves, to climb peaks and view breath-taking landscapes. We were made for all of these. We were truly made to experience good things that make us feel alive.

And, sometimes when we do the things we love, we might just get a black eye. And that is okay, because black eyes heal. They are proof that we were not meant to be broken, because we heal.

Know this: If you can't do the things you love, you can heal. You were made to move. You were made to heal. You were made for fun. You were made for life. You were made. Move. Heal. Play. Live. Then, heal some more....

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