"You've could die or be paralyzed -- this is a Chris
Reeves type injury." I was in the chiropractor's
office with my son Christopher, a healthy, active grade 8 boy.
The day before I'd been cleaning a twig basket with Pledge.
Some of the spray got on our old linoleum kitchen floor and
when Christopher flew into the kitchen to grab some
cookies he fell and bashed his neck against our
antique pine table. First injury. The head banging
contest the next day at school helped the tear in
the cartilage between his second and third vertebrae
rip further -- half way across as it happened.
The numbness, dizzy spells and loss of sensation
in his hands and feet probably saved that boy.
Primulas for spring
acrylic on canvas
8 x 8 inches
that line the paths of woodland gardens in England.
I used to clump four or five little pots of the
flowers into a woven twig basket.
The story has a happy ending -- Christopher wore a neck brace
for three months, and didn't take gym or do anything
rigorously physical for three months and his neck healed.
Now he is a fine young man. But it could have been quite
different if our chiro hadn't made us fight our way
to the top Orthopedic surgeon at Sick Kids' Hospital in Toronto.
I put the Primulas I bought this year into small bowls.
Julie Davis talked about trying the one stroke
method to paint that she learned from Carol Marine. I don't
know if I've got the method, but I like today's painting anyway.
Thanks Julie and Carol and all the other painters I learn from
every day. As for our Primula incident, I'm not religious, but I do
think the universe has my back.
Have a knowing-you-live-in-a-state-of-grace day.
