Swimmertainment

For tonight's swimmertainment, I would like to share a story from today's trip to the pool. However, if I do not share the following story, I may get in trouble. This is a story that I promised in a previous swimmertainment. It is a real (and embarrassing) story that happened to me a few months back and something that I have not been able to live down...and probably won't for a long time...thanks to my dearest friends and siblings, Kory and Sara.

As many of you know, I broke the pinky finger on my right hand last fall in a very ridiculous  fashion. I managed to spend a morning shooting guns for the very first time and walked away fine, but two hours later I got is shut in a car door. Good job, Ash. So the pinky finger on my right hand has not been the same since - not able to straighten out completely nor bend completely and has a slight bend towards the left. At first, it was super annoying because my finger looked like a fin-sized package of whoppers and I could barely button my own pants. Now I have learned to deal with it and it really is no big deal.

Until the day I was swimming laps and got my finger stuck in a land divider in the pool.

Yes, you read that correctly. I got my busted, broken pinky finger on my right hand stuck in a lane divider.

Allow me to explain. So I was swimming laps one day, trying to set a personal record for laps swam in an hour. Previous record, at the time, was 36. On this day I did 37 in an hour. However, I do not like ending my time, if I can help it, on an odd number because one lap is 50 meters and for some reason I like ending with two zeros at the end. So I figured I could swim one more quick lap and call it good. Well I was swimming fast and was not fully paying attention. I was swimming the freestyle. The next thing I knew, I could not bring my right hand down and my shoulder was yanked backwards. My finger was stuck. And I could not get it out. No matter how hard I tried or what angle I tried, I could not get it out. And I could not touch the bottom of the pool so I am treading water and trying to get my finger lose.

I finally get the lifeguard's attention and tell him that I was fine, but needed help getting my finger lose. Well he sends out another lifeguard so he doesn't have to shut down the entire pool. This gal, Robin, gets in and helps me free my finger. She then precedes to freak out at the fact that, not only is my finger swelling, but horribly bent and will not move. I am trying to tell her that it really is okay, that my finger already looked like that minus the swelling. I finally convinced her a couple of days later when I brought her a picture of my busted hand from the year before, after my emt of a brother, had wrapped it up with a bag of ice inside the wrap. Oh yes, that happened.

Not only did I got my finger stuck in the lane divider that day, but it happened a couple of weeks later. Oh yes I am that girl. Thankfully I was able to get it out by myself and yes it was all swollen again. Needless to say, all the lifeguards are now a little nervous when I show up. I do not blame them - I am the girl who got her finger stuck in the lane divider. Twice.

I hope you enjoyed this ridiculous story...and yes, you may mock me forever now.

All in.