but first, let me explain.
it was a perfect day, it usually is when bad things happen.
i had gone camping at the lake with my family the night before, we spent the morning paddle boarding cliff jumping and hunting for crawdads. i came home, started making a video for student council, and then, still in my swimsuit, headed to a back-to-school swim party at my friend mariah's house.
like i said, it was an ironically perfect day.
i spent time with everyone i love and did everything i love to do.
the pool party was like any other you've been to, in the best way of course.
her dad cooked burgers, the boys threw us in, we played hands up stands up, made trains down the slide, ate more food, talked, laughed.. you know how it goes.
the night was winding down and i got out of the pool to dry.
i sat on a boulder next to my lovely friend gracie and we watched as our friends lined up and sat down in the slide, stopping the flow of the water. they all looked so cute and happy in a row like that, so naturally and me and gracie started talking about how blessed we felt to have such good friends.
as we talked the people on the slide started to sit up on the edges, making a tunnel underneath their bodies. seeing that the slide was no longer clogged with teenagers, i decided to seize the opportunity and go down it one last time.
but this is where it all gets fuzzy,
or black, rather.
apparently when i went down the slide i hit my head pretty hard making an awesome gash and knocking me out cold for about 3 minutes.
i remember someone saying
"is she faking it?"
then someone yelling
"no, this is real!!"
and i remember wondering who they were talking about, like i was just a fly on the wall or something.
more black.
i was at the bottom of the slide, but not in the water.
mariah's dad's voice was over me asking me if i could open my eyes,
i could, but it took a real conscious effort.
as soon as i realized what was going on, my first reaction was to play it off like you would when you get injured in front of your friends: play it off, don't cry, laugh about it, you know the drill.
literally, the first thing i said when i sat up was "i''m such a noooob!"
but my head really really hurt and i couldn't see except for a tiny hole in my vision and as soon as i took my first wobbly step off of the slide my whole "yeah i'm fine" visage ended.
i noticed how funny my messed up vision made my hands look and started laughing, and then i realized that that wasn't normal and i started crying. and hence, the cycle began.
the next hour i don't remember all that well, but from what my friends tell me it was pretty hilarious.
i couldn't think straight, let alone talk straight.
i basically just laid in mariah's bed and bled everywhere while anything and everything spilled out of my mouth. watching videos, i sound like i had just gotten my wisdom teeth removed or something.
i was laughing then crying then laughing then singing then crying again.
but the sad thing is, i wasn't on drugs, it was my actual brain failing to function.
i don't remember a lot of what i said, but i remember what it felt like. my left arm was numb. i remember opening my eyes, but only being able to fit a single face in my field of vision, everything else was black. i remember i was so mad at myself for not being able to control what i said and i remember trying really hard to act "normal,"but somehow everything i said just made my friends laugh.
when my dad came to pick me up he decided to take me to the ER to make sure everything was okay because at that point the only thing that was coming out of my mouth was pure gibberish.
most of what i remember about the hospital is a gnarly headache, but apparently i got a cat scan, a few staples, then they pumped me full of morphine and sent me on my way.
it was a good time, really.
the rest of the week was spent on what my mom referred to as "brain rest" but what felt like "house arrest." there is only so much you can do in a dark bedroom when you're not allowed to look at screens. i painted, did puzzles, wrote in my journal, and took naps in-between everything i did. which, minus the awesome constant headache, actually isn't a bad way to live.
but mostly what i did this week was think. a lot.
i thought about what happened and why it happened and why it happened when it did.
because let's be real, who wants to start out their senior year with a brain injury??
but like i said, i decided that this experience was the perfect way to start my senior year.
why?
because there is much more to this experience than meets the eye.
although i am not comfortable sharing most of what happened on the world wide web, i would just like to point out that even though i went down a waterslide, i didn't end up in the water. sliding into the water would have been disastrous or even fatal, as i was completely unconscious. that may seem like a lucky coincidence to some people, but to me it is nothing less than a miracle. guardian angels where there that night. this experience was a perfectly timed reminder for both me and my friends that we are here for a reason
trust in God, and trust in his plan
(i am the emotional burrito in the middle)
this experience was also a reminder that i have the most amazing friends in the entire world. they have been there for me since the second i hit my head. they literally gathered around the bed when i was delirious and just sat with me. hahaha and i thought my friend kayden was harry styles so apparently all my guy friends pretended to be one direction and sang "night changes" to me.. who does that?! i love them. they are all such genuinely good people, every last one of them.
anyway, so that is why this was a perfect way to start my senior year.
it was a much needed reminder that my friends have my back and that most importantly,
God has my back.
much love,
katie jane powell.
