20 years ago tonight

Wow. I can't believe it's been that long, but yes, it was twenty years ago tonight that I broke my arm. I know, I know, you're thinking "Big whoop, I've broken lots of things," but, well, I haven't (aside from a single finger incident on a jumping castle at a Homecoming Carnival in college. Let us speak no more of it). So my first break was a big deal, and to this day, it's still a damn impressive scar on my arm -- two dozen stitches, I think, or thereabouts, and two spots where the pins were. Yes, there were pins.

Plus, I like the story of it. I was all sporty back in my youth, and broke it attempting a vault in gymnastics. Ok, so it wasn't a very difficult vault, and the break really came when I fell down after I didn't stick the landing, and hit my elbow on the metal supports of the apparatus -- which should have been covered by the mat, and we should have sued, but we're not litigious folks, even though it would have nicely covered my college tuition, I'm sure. But the whole thing sort of plays like a beautiful cause-and-effect "tipping point" moment in my childhood. Because I broke my arm, I was in a cast. Because I was in a cast, I couldn't take gym. Because I didn't take gym, I used the free period in the computer room. Because I spent all that time in the computer room, I started playing video games and learning more about computers. Because I knew computers... etc etc etc... voila, I am a geek!

OK, fine, there's probably a few other steps in there somewhere. Something about my spending all my free time reading fantasy novels and just anything I could get my hands on, and not having as big a group of kids to play with in the neighborhood when I grew up, but I think it's an interesting hypothesis.

Plus, it's a cool scar. As I said. Though something about the way they put everything back together makes it hurt like a mother if I'm ever so unlucky as to hit my funny bone. It's not funny at all. More like a shooting, numbing pain running right to my fingers.

Anyway, that was twenty years ago. Two decades. It doesn't seem possible.