Can It Get Worse?

   My summer. I never would have guessed it would be so.. well different. I've gotta say it all started back in March over spring break.. No, let's go back a little farther. Winter of 2010 I became friends with my brother's girlfriend, Courtney. Great idea right? My brother doesn't think so. He was not really comitted to her so eventually they break up. Even then I am still friends with her. At this point, I'm not going to let my brother's bad relationships ruin a good friendship for me. So, the aforementioned girl and I get a job at the same place. Anyways, back to spring break. A week before our job starts, she and I decide to go on a road trip to Florida for spring break. Yet another splendid idea on our parts! Well it seems like a good idea at least. So we plan this trip.
   Meanwhile, I manage to get a tick bite on the back of my leg. I don't think too much of it and decide to keep an eye on the spot. Here I am thinking that things can't really get worse. You know, only so much can happen to one person in a summer right? Riiiight. Well the Saturday early morning comes and we drive down to Florida just as planned. We easily survive the twelve hour drive. First we stay with her family. They live about a ten minute drive from the ocean. Nice people, nice place, nice beach... you get it, it appears to be a fantastic vacation!
   No, things have to get worse. The second day that we went to the beach, Monday, I decide that I want a tan. Normally, in Maryland, I tan easily without a hitch. So I do something really stupid. I decide that I am going to get my tan by not wearing sunscreen for a little while, forgetting that Florida is MUCH closer to the equator; therefor, much easier to roast a northern child such as I. At first I do not realize that I am being burnt, so I continue to enjoy my time frolicking in the waves and collecting seashells with holes in them to make necklaces for my sisters. I have a wonderful time, let me tell you, BUT soon I come to realize that my back feels ever so slightly warm. A little too warm. I walk over to my friend, and she gasps! "LYDIA! What in the world did you do to your back?? You're as red as a lobster!" Immediately I grab the sunscreen and have her apply it to my back.
   The next day I am extremely uncomfortable. Actually, it lasts more than just that day. Despite the lobster burn on my back and front and.. okay pretty much everywhere that was exposed, we continue on to our next stop, Jordan's house. She has a pool so I get this great idea to jump in it since it was a chilly pool and I was burning up. It is only a temporary fix though. On a side note, I have to mention that Jordan said the water was heating up around me in her pool! Anyways, I use a ton of aloe all over my back, but still my skin is hot to the touch.
   That night I can barely sleep. I can't toss or turn over. There is only one position that I manage to fall asleep in without causing more pain to my burn. Here I am thinking Okay, things are pretty bad. Like first that tick bite and now this. The bite doesn't really bother me much anymore since the burn is worse and crowds my mind more. So now I have this really bad sunburn. Things can't really get much worse.. can they??
   After spending time with Jordan, we continue on to Tampa Bay to visit my Aunt, Uncle, and my cousin Vince. Our plans are to leave there Thursday or so after spending time with them. Well, I'm still suffering from my sunburn. Uncle Ralph is a navy medic or something like that so he's got this amazing sunburn relief kit. It works pretty well and I feel like I just might make it through the week alive afterall.. but plans have a way of changing.
   We decide to stay an extra day so that we can visit the Fort Desota beach and get to see my other cousins. Aunt Val told me these great stories about when she used to go looking for sanddollars at this particular beach. So a couple of us go searching all the sand banks.. to no avail. We walk the whole two miles up the beach. It really is fun, but we all start to wander at our own paces.
   So here I am, about 40 feet ahead of two of the cousins, on the way back to where my aunt has set up her chair. I'm still subconsciously looking for sanddollars cause I really really want to find at least one. I find a piece but that's it because soon after I take a wrong step. "GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I scream as something gets hold of my big toe. At first I think it's a crab. At this point the sunburn is COMPLETELY gone to me. The pain in my toe overwhelms me so much that all I can do is limp for a minute and then sit down and whimper as I realize that my toe is bleeding, my aunt is up the beach AT LEAST a mile down, the other beach house is at least a quarter mile, and I have no clue what even got me.
   The two cousins nearby rush to me. One runs down the beach to tell my aunt. It seems to take forever. I think.. well try to think. Usually when you get a cut you raise your injury above the heart and apply pressure such that it stops bleeding. I do this. It seems to work but I am still in pain. It throbs. The rest of my leg starts to feel sore. I find out why later. Eventually, I decide to try to make it up to the beach house. The other cousin carries me piggy back style until I tell her to let me just limp for a little while and give her a break.
   Soon my aunt comes and I limp back to the beach house with her. It seems to take forever. A passerby comments that it may be a piece of glass, in which case I would have to reopen the injury to remove said glass pieces. Not cool. I really don't need that right now. By the time I get to the beach house I'm sorta freaking out. The girl inside calls the local rangers for me. She tells me that they said if it is a stingray then steaming hot water will work. I'm ready to try anything. The second I put my foot into that steaming bucket, the pain subsides and I am almost certain that it was a stingray which must have met me that afternoon in the water.
   Although I am relaxed finally, I am still anxious for the rangers to come and give a definite answer to what it was and how to continue to treat the injury. The blood flow from the toe has slowed down. The rangers get there. I double take.. THEY AREN'T OLD GUYS?? I guess it wasn't too bad an experience since the rangers stay and talk with me awhile. One is definitely Australian. The other guy is ripped. They tell me that if conditions get worse then I am to immediately go to a hospital to get any stingray barbs removed. I am slightly scared. Then Aunt Val comes back with the car and everything else she had left at the other end of the beach. The ripped guy carries me to the car... I had to grin when I saw Courtney's face. She's kinda like super attracted to any cute/hot guy.
   As before, the tick bite and sunburn no longer consume my mind. Now it is all about the injury from the stingray. Thankfully, it seems to have only been a baby stingray, and the water was cool which caused it to be slow; thus, the injury is not as bad as it could be. So I do get back home in time for training at my new job afterall.
   Now, fast forward about 3 months. I'm busy between my job and swim team and soccer games. The place where the stingray got me still feels lightly numb.  First I stub my same toe at a swim meet right before my race. I'm reminded of the pain. The next day, Sunday, I get together with about fifteen other people for a pick-up soccer game. It's going great! My team is winning pretty well. At some point we stop counting scores. I get close to the goal but have a deffender on me so I pass to my sister, Robin. Somehow, I'm not quite sure how, I twist my right ankle badly. We all take a water break. I decide I still want to play, but only as defense. Eventually, I can put a little more pressure on my foot so I play up again. This time I trip over another player and roll over. Somehow I manage to injure my left ankle. It hurts a little but I have to stop playing since both ankles being injured is harder to deal with than just one injured.
   Some people leave. Matt from church shows up so we start World Cup. I sorta sit out. As in I play but only from a sitting position. Don't ask, it's hard to explain stupidity. The World Cup game ends but I sit in the goal area anyways to see if I can block goals at least with my arms. I get hit in the head a couple of times while not looking. My ankles temporarily feel better. Now, I've gone through all of that, things can't get worse.. can they??
   I dive for one ball but I miss. Someone else has good aim though. My leg flies into the air to keep balance as I lean over. Bad move. A ball flies from the shooting area and right into my right ankle! I curl up in pain. One of my friends piggy backs me to my car. I have a stick shift car so I trade cars with Courtney for an automatic. Not so bad on my ankle.
   I'm limping for the next 12 hours, but the next day I decide that I am good enough to go berry picking with my friend. Like things can't get worse once you've recovered from a stingray and you've sprained both ankles.. right??
Sometimes I wonder how so much can happen to one person...
   My ankles only slightly bother me as a pick raspberries with my friend Ashley. I mention my allergies to poison ivy. She mentions that she's never had it in her life. We both realize that we have no clue what it looks like, so we continue to pick berries. We clean off after two hours of picking berries. Both of us have scratches all over our limbs. Her arms seemed to have gotten the worst of it. By now, you can probably guess how wrong I am.
   Evening comes and I notice the scratches are still there. Still red. What is this?? I see a black-ish spot in the middle of one particularly larger bumpier red spot. It's not exactly itchy.. yet. Suddenly my ankles don't feel so bad, because it's the next morning and my legs are itching badly. I put on some anti itch lotion. A temporary fix. I go to swim team. Nobody swims in the same lane as me even though the other lanes are crowded. Seriously guys, poison ivy can't spread if the skin has been washed as mine has. The mom's are all nice though. They help me find information about black-spot poison ivy. I think I have it. I get some meds at the store and treat myself at home. The internet says black-spot is kind of rare. So I'm sitting here hoping it's not worse, doesn't get worse, and that, for once, JUST ONCE, can this please be the moment where it doesn't get worse?
   So, there's my summer. If you think things are going really bad for you, if you think being bored over the summer is the worst thing ever, you should be happy cause things could get worse.