NVS Mid-Month Challenge 9 - Ten Things That I'm Thankful For

I found it fun how BJ made the theme a lot more thought-provoking by specifically suggesting we are not cite people in things we’re thankful for. I viewed her twist as permission for me to take a slightly different tact on this months theme. My reason for being thankful is the same in all ten of these – I’m “thankful that I didn’t dieâ€.😂

The early years:
1 – Like about 1% of babies I was born with a “hole in my heartâ€. (Actually a “septal defect†- a leak between chambers within the heart.) Unlike most babies born with this condition mine never healed. (More about that below.) This slowed me down some. I didn’t have the endurance to compete in organized competitive sports, but I’m “thankful that I did not dieâ€.
2 – When I was in the 2nd grade, an infection settled into my kidneys and I was hospitalized for two weeks. My older sister told me a few years ago that my parents prepared her for the possibility that I would die. Somehow I recovered. I missed most of the second half of 2nd Grade but was able to be promoted to 3rd Grade on schedule due to being home tutored. It was a traumatic experience and I’m “thankful that I did not dieâ€.

The young and dumb years:
3 – On a dive very soon after getting certified, the dive master told us to jump of the stern of the boat. The circular-shaped reef would be right there. Follow it completely around and surface when we returned to the stern of boat. I jumped in but didn’t immediately see the reef. I swam a bit away from the boat. No reef in sight. A bit more – no reef. Some more – no reef. Now if you know anything about boats you know that due to basically their basically triangular shape they align with the current. So as I was swimming away from the stern it meant I was swimming downstream WITH the current. Eventually I surfaced and spotted the boat FAR OFF in the distance. I went back down and started to work my way back. My weak heart meant I was burning through my air like crazy when swimming back to the boat against the current. Eventually I ran out of air and was forced the snorkel on the surface the rest of the way. The seas were 2-3 feet that day, no big deal when below the water, but somewhat more challenging when swimming on the surface. After what seemed like an eternity, I made it back to the boat, just as it was about to weigh anchor and come retrieve me. I got an ass chewing from the dive master, mostly for getting separated from my dive-buddy, but I was “thankful that I did not dieâ€.
4. One night a college classmate and I decided to fly from the central east coast town in Florida where we went to school to Orlando. Back in those days there wasn’t much out there in those 60-some miles. About 10 minutes after takeoff we heard a very loud, repetitive, and quite unsettling, noise. I managed to keep the plane upright while investigating and resolving the source of the noise. But by the time I was done I pretty much had NO IDEA where I was. Fortunately Orlando air traffic control was able to point me to the airport. It was not a fun experience – and I was “thankful that I did not dieâ€. (The return trip was uneventful.)
5. While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway one rainy November day I noticed the “Falling Rocks†signs. I’d seen such signs in Pennsylvania when growing up but had never seen any rocks. About 1/10 of a second before impact I caught a glimpse of a rock about the size of my head. It shattered the windshield of my rental car, bent the top of the driver side door outwards, and then landed in my lap. Glass was EVERYWHERE but thankfully most of it stuck to my damp jacket and didn’t fly up into my eyes. Getting the aftermath all sorted out took quite a while but I was “thankful that I did not dieâ€.
6-Very late one night I was knocking on the front door of the townhouse were the lady I was dating lived. From the darkened porch next door I heard one of her neighbors ask me what I was doing there and telling me to leave. I was already headed to my car when I heard what sounded like a shotgun being pumped to load. I backed out of the parking spot and continued backwards down the circle on which she lived. That was about the quickest I’d ever moved in my life and I was “thankful that I did not dieâ€.
7. I met a cute young woman in a Brazilian disco. We each spoke just a wee bit of each other’s native language, but the music was so loud that didn’t really matter. What I was able to understand was the she was open to coming to my hotel room, but preferred me going to her place and meeting her roommate. Thinking/hoping some sort of threesome was coming my way I readily agreed! 😠When we got to her place, her roommate, who spoke English well, offered me a Caipirinha. I knew that I’d had enough of them already, but when TWO delightful ladies are offering, what gentleman refuses? After a while I started to feel queasy. It likely was the cachaça (the sugar cane based liquor used in making a Caipirinha) but it sure felt like I had been drugged so I got out of there rather quickly. So there I was, an “impaired†American wandering the back streets of a mid-sized Brazilian town in the wee hours of the morning, with really no idea where I was. (Al Stewart “Year of the Cat†anyone?) I was able to flag down a taxi to get me back to my hotel. Things could have been much worse, and I was “thankful that I did not dieâ€.

Older but maybe not any wiser:
8. After numerous round of back pain I decided that I needed to start going to the gym and to strengthen my core. I did that but also started doing a fair amount of cardio too. A few years later my older sister remarked that she was surprised by that given I still had a hole in my heart. I’d lived with it for so long I’d forgotten about it and thought how my body was reacting was normal. I was “thankful that I did not die†when starting to workout at the gym.
9. At age 60 I finally agreed to getting my first colonoscopy. During the pre-surgical checkup the doctor told me I had rather pronounced heart murmur. I said “NO DUH! I’ve had a hole in my heart since birth!†He told he was so concerned that he was not willing to knock me out to accomplish the colonoscopy. One thing lead to another and finally I decided that if I was going to need open heart surgery eventually, it was better to do it at age 60 instead than at age 70 (or whatever). So I had it. The speed of my recovery amazed most people. But it’s important to understand most open heart surgery occurs on patients with heart disease, whereas issue a mechanical defect. Fix it and go! But nonetheless, I was “thankful that I did not die†during open-heart surgery.
10. I once again went to visit the 20 years younger, bodacious, blue-eyed blonde lady I was dating at her office late one afternoon. She generally reacted like she was not a fan of me doing this, but despite that it frequently lead to her posing for naughty pictures and/or us having sex, so I persisted. While I was there a man arrived bearing flowers. He seemed quite distressed by my presence. After he left I asked her about him. She was pissed at me, and said “YOU IDIOT – that was my husband!!†I knew they had an open marriage but that he was also a bit of a loose cannon, always getting called into HR for this, that, or the other, behavior. So his non-violent reaction to my presence in his wife’s office was a relief and one more case of where I was “thankful that I did not dieâ€.

And now the epilogue:
As I was putting this together, I realized I only had nine items, not ten. ONE (and ONLY one) of these is not true. Which one do you think it is, and why did you guess that one?
Who wants to come on an adventure with me? I promise we (probably) won’t die! 🤣