A Streak of Bad Luck in the Family
Have you ever suffered from bad luck? Our family seemed to have a streak of bad luck not long ago (or was it just coincidence?).
It actually started when one of our grandsons got his leg caught in the spokes of a bike. He is a real climber, and I imagined he would have fallen off of a wall and broken an arm or something instead. Luckily he did not break his bones but had very sore ankle (big ouwee!).
Not long after that, one of our granddaughters, who also is very active, fell from the monkey bars at school and broke her arm. She had to wear a sling for a while and then got a cast.
Her little sister was having health problems, and ended up having an operation to give her a stoma (an artificial opening in her abdomen).
We live an ocean away from these beautiful children, and so we were anxious and worried about all of them.
There was a family reunion planned for early summer, and we were hoping that everyone would be well enough to get together. Of course, our thoughts and prayers became more fervent and more often as we learned about each child and their bad luck.
Just when we thought every one was on the mend, we got another call from Utah reporting that another one of our granddaughters had broken her shoulder. Her mother had taken a bad fall, which resulted in a hair fracture of her daughter's collar bone (she was holding her hand when it happened). Luckily our daughter was not badly injured. This little girl actually blamed her injury on her cousin, the one that got injured first from the bicycle spokes.
Four of our grandchildren live near us in Hawaii, and we (Grandma and Grandpa) were planning to meet them and our other children in Utah for our highly anticipated family reunion. We planned to take a family photo that (God willing) would include everybody.
However, one of our Hawaiian grandsons became concerned and very reluctant to travel to Utah. When we asked him why, he said that "Utah was cursed". We had to help to alleviate his fears so that he could enjoy his upcoming vacation.
Our prayers were answered, and all of the children were improving. The parents were able to get the help they needed, and they were surprisingly told that none of the children would have to wear casts during the trip. Yeah!
Our son and his family from Hawaii had flown to Las Vegas and then they were to drive to meet us at the cabin in Utah. The night before they arrived, their youngest son had an accident in the hotel and ended up in the Emergency Room getting a staple in his head.
Our family reunion was up Cottonwood Canyon in a beautiful cabin which was near a raging river. The hard winter and sudden onset of warm weather was speedily melting the snow on the mountain and causing flooding up the canyon. With twelve grandchildren all staying in one cabin, I tried not to lose my mind trying to keep track of all the little cuties.The river was only a few yards from the cabin.
Fortunately, we really enjoyed our time up in the cabin and lost no one. We had a family game night and played ping pong, billiards and Wii games. The little grandson who had been so worried about the "Utah curse" accidentally ran into a pole and ended up at the ER where they confirmed that he had a concussion. Grandpa had been the lucky one to clean up after him when he started vomiting.
I am somewhat of a klutz and figure that maybe my skill unfortunately has been passed on to the latest generation. I sincerely hope not!!
Since we have all returned home from the family reunion, there have been no more injuries, thank goodness. We feel very blessed to have had this wonderful time together, but will remember this bad luck streak (coincidence) our family experienced.
