new york, new york!

This blog post will detail the trip I took to NYC last October with my sister, Gretchen. It was quite the trip!

For more than a year before I went on this trip I had been daydreaming about taking another tour of New York City. I had been in 2013 with some of my friends, we were there less than two days but had a blast. There was so much I didn't get to see and I knew I'd really enjoy it. I had also heard about a Broadway adaptation of the movie, "An American in Paris", it  is one of my favorite movies. I followed the progress of the show and tried to catch every clip/performance I could. It sounded like the perfect musical: romance, gershwin, ballet, all set in Paris; why wouldn't I want to see it? Eventually I grew to really want to see it, and to maybe try to see it with the original cast. Two of the leads were from the New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London. I decided to invite my sister, Gretchen, to come with me. We went in October as she has two days off that month for Fall Break, it makes it nice for a long weekend.

To my regret, I decided I would try another red-eye to get to NYC. I think it was a little cheaper, and I wanted to maximize my time in the city. Also, I still lie to myself and think I am young and can handle sleeping on an airplane overnight, when really it's one of the worst things ever. Gretchen got a red-eye flight as well. We were supposed to meet at JFK and head into the city together. What actually happened is that I got delayed from the get-go. When I got into the Pasco airport I found my flight to SeaTac was going to be late. Late enough that I'd miss my flight to JFK. I called the airline to see what they could do for me or if they had any other information. I really didn't want to get on that airplane if there wasn't anything for me in Seattle but what else could I do? I landed in Seattle and headed to the airline counter to get my flight changed. There were two people working the counter, but I guess for some reason it takes like 20 minutes per person to change a flight...? I waited for probably an hour before I was assisted. The best they had was booking me on another flight (and actually another airline) for early the next morning. I was really bummed out. I didn't want to spend the night in the airport. I didn't want Gretchen to have to navigate the city alone. And I had pre-ordered a cronut to pick up for breakfast that morning. My mom was baller and while I was flying to Seattle, she booked a hotel room for me. Something that had a shuttle service. At least I would have a bed for the night.

Before I left the airport I wanted to get an actual ticket number in my hand. What the airline employee gave me was not exactly a reservation, I didn't want any surprises the next morning. I went to the ticket counter and explained my situation to the lady, that I was being changed to her airline for a flight. She tried to look me up, spent a few minutes doing who knows what and then explained that I would have to go to the first airline to get a booking number (or something), and then bring it back to her. So I trudged down to the other airline and the counter was closed. It was like 11 pm so no one was there. I saw there were employees at the kiosks for the "elite travelers" and even though I wasn't the "elite" I was going to make them do it for me because no one else was around. Thankfully, there was a lady there who sort of understood what I was needing and she got it for me. Then I went back to the first lady and she was able to actually give me a ticket for the next morning. I am so glad I took care of this because I probably would have missed another flight the next morning. The thing about the SeaTac airport is that it is so busy right now. A lot of airlines use it. So like 70% of their flights are delayed. I have made another vow to myself not to take a red-eye ever again. Only if it's transcontinental...

Anyway, I had the joyous experience of being picked up in a sketchy white van and taken to a dumpy hotel. I couldn't find a thermostat so I was freezing cold all night long. And in the morning I couldn't get the water to heat up in the shower, so I washed my hair while standing outside it. The sketchy van took me back to the airport and I was finally on my way. Meanwhile, Gretchen had made it to JFK and then into the city on her own. I was proud of her. I needed to get to NYC that day because my "American in Paris" tickets were for that night! JFK was a really busy airport but I was able to figure out how to take the express subway into Manhattan. I had to chuckle a little, the couple across from me on the subway, the guy had a BYU "Y" on his briefcase. I should have said "hello" but I didn't. I got to the hotel ok and Gretchen was resting. She had gone to the Museum of Natural History that morning and had her New York hot dog.

Pretty much all we had time for was getting ready, finding somewhere to eat dinner, and then going to the show. Our hotel was near Times Square which was very convenient. We tried to find something that sounded good, but most things were touristy, like TGI Fridays, or would take too much time than we had. We ended up eating Sbarros pizza, haha, I know, super awesome cuisine. But it was quick. We did have time to look around both the Hershey's and M&M's stores in Times Square. They were packed. I totally get why locals avoid Times Square like the plague. It's not my favorite either. Then it was time to head over for the show!

"An American in Paris" was at the Palace Theater in Times Square. It was right across the street from the TKTS booth where you can get discount tickets to shows. I had gotten great seats for us because I had been waiting to see this show for a long time and I wanted to make sure I could see everything, I didn't want to be cheap and sit in the back just to squint at everything. The show was amazing. It had plenty to see and enjoy. The sets and scenery were pretty cool and served well to make you think you were in Paris. They used a combination of back drops, sets, lighting and projections to make different scenes. The projections, which were slightly animated, were new to me and it made the scenes look like they were more alive and made the "City of Light" look more believable and romantic. The Gershwin songs were good, they used a few more than were in the movie, the story line was tweaked a bit to add a little more meat to the characters. My favorites were the big song and dance numbers as well as the big ballet at the end set to the "American in Paris" symphony by Gershwin. My favorites were: "I've Got Beginner's Luck" where Jerry tries to flirt with Lise in a perfume shop and ends up dancing and leaping from counter to counter; "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" that had the flavor of an old school big Broadway song and dance number; "I've Got Rhythm" that just has the ebullience of people waking up from a long nightmare (the play is set right after WWII ends); and the ending ballet which had a bit of a modern flair, but was very good. Robbie Fairchild played Jerry Mulligan, and he did THE BIGGEST leap/turn/chaines around the entire stage with so much height and energy. Amazing. Leanne Cope played Lise Dassin and she was perfect. She was a beautiful dancer as well and it was so fun to see ballet in a Broadway show. I also liked the guy who played Adam Hochburg, Brandon Uranowitz, who was sort of a narrator. He sang the song "But Not For Me" about how everyone gets love but him, he almost had me in tears by then end. The show was everything I hoped for and I felt so fancy to be at a big Broadway show in the Big City. Gretchen and I took a picture in front of a backdrop and it is one of my favorites from the trip. It wasn't too late when the show got out so we went back to the hotel  and shared a dessert to complete our fancy night out.

The next day was Friday. I had gotten tickets for a tour of the United Nations building. Sometimes I am really nerdy and love doing things like that, (only sometimes?? haha, ok most of the time). I don't really know anyone who has been to the UN so I wasn't sure what to expect. Thankfully, it wasn't a time where they were having a General Assembly or anything so it was actually open for tours. Gretchen and I got up and rode the subway down to the nearest stop but still had to walk several blocks because the UN is right next to the East River. We stopped at a place to get bagels for breakfast, I was trying to be all new yorky but it probably wasn't that legit. G just didn't want lox on hers. The cutest thing was the international school that was across the street; it was cute because there were all these parents dropping their kids off at school. I'm pretty sure the kids of all the people who work at the UN go to school there because there were multiple ethnicities represented. How cool that that is your life as a kid?! After breakfast we had a few more blocks and then we were across the street from the UN complex. I had never been to that area of Manhattan before so it was cool to check out. We had to wait in a line before the guards would let us through security. There were a ton of foreigners there but they didn't seem to get that one may need tickets to go on a tour. There were also a ton of college age kids who were probably all studying foreign policy or something all there on a week field trip type thing. They kept cutting in front of us. Finally the security guards let our ticket time in. I'm glad I brought my passport because I'm not sure they would have let G or I in if one of us didn't have one. I'm not exactly sure why we both didn't need it, but since I had my passport and G was with me (with her driver's license) they let her in. It was weird. We went through security and then to a lobby where we waited for our tour to start. They had pictures of all the past Secretaries General of the UN. They only took about ten people at a time on a tour. We went with this gal who did a pretty good job. The most surprising thing is where the UN rooms you've seen on TV are actually located. When they show the complex, you see the big tall building with lots of glass. That was not where we went at all, I think that's actually a lot of offices. The building we toured is to the side and it has the large meeting rooms that you see on TV. I got to see the Security Council room and the General Assembly room. The Economic Council room was being used, and we barely caught the Security Council room, a meeting was about to start there too. I was kind of bummed that I wasn't able to get pictures of the General Assembly room as that is the most famous one, but they have all these diplomatic rules and one of them is not photographing a person who is speaking if they don't want to, and a guy was speaking about something in the General Assembly so we could only walk though very quietly. Our guide told us a lot about the UN, the different branches and their purposes; some of the rules/laws that govern the UN, it's history, etc. There were different items on display from various countries that were gifts of some kind to the UN, like art pieces. There were also a few displays/infographics about the mission of the UN and the guide would explain them. One of the most important things to me was the statue that was near one of the sites where a nuclear bomb was dropped on Japan at the end of WWII. The statue fell in blast of the bomb so one side is intact and the other side was rippled by the explosion. At the end of the tour we were in the basement, they have a post office there where they will stamp your passport with a United Nations stamp (it's not technically in the USA), so again I was glad I brought my passport! The other cool thing was the flags outside the front of the UN. All 193 member states including Palestine and the Holy See are represented with their flags arranged alphabetically. I felt so knowledgeable after this tour!

Chrysler Building as seen from the UN 

Our next stop was to go inside Grand Central Station. On the way there I found the cutest little community garden/park thing in Tudor City. It's one of those things that you hope you come across when you go to NYC. I felt very Kathleen Kelly a la "You've Got Mail." Anyway, I wanted to see Grand Central because of the history and the architecture. I didn't know much about it but I didn't want to pay for/take the time to do their little tour. I really wish I had a Rick Steves lecture to listen to as I looked at it, that would have been cool. (See? Nerd.) I loved the blue color of the ceiling and the astrology painted up there. Also, places like Grand Central just amaze me because of the sheer numbers of people that move through there, also how it is a train/subway station and a mall all in one. How does that even happen? Then we rode the subway uptown to start working on our art museums. (I guess were were being super nerdy this day...;)

Lunch was a stop at Shake Shack. I knew I wanted to take G here because they have amazing hamburgers and french fries. Also, I needed some of that custard, I missed out on that when I went before. It was delicious. I don't know what it is, but that hamburger meat is just some of the best. The french fries are delectable and the custard blizzard (they call it a concrete) was so tasty. It was a lot of food, but so so good. It's probably a good thing that Shake Shack is so far away. G enjoyed it too.

Our first museum was the Neue Galerie which contains the painting from the movie "Woman in Gold," the painting is actually called Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I by Gustav Klimt. The museum's theme is German and Austrian art/stuff. The Woman in Gold is it's highlight, they also have a few more Klimts, there was also some more modern stuff, also some stuff from WWII. It was interesting, but it is a pretty small museum. We had to wait in line to get in because they only allow so many people at at time in there at once. Also, it was kind of pricey and they don't let you take pictures of the art. But I went so I could tell my mom I saw "Woman in Gold" in real life. And it was really beautiful. I liked it a lot. Oh, also, we asked a security guard, you say the name of the museum the German way, so it rhymes with "Goya" as in the artist. I got my mom a postcard. She liked it a lot.

The next museum was the Metropolitan Museum of Art-The Met. I was so stinking excited to go here. So much art all in one spot! I did not realize how huge that place was. They don't technically charge admission, but ask for a "donation" and you can pick how much you want to give. I think we just gave what they asked for though because it was weird. I most wanted to see the Impressionists so we found that wing/floor first. I SAW IT ALL. It was just as good as the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. Monet, Manet, Pissaro, Gaugin, Picasso (only one that I saw), Van Gogh, Degas, Cezanne, all the french peeps. I had the app on my phone so I listened to some of the blurbs as I walked around. Sadly, they had two of Monets Water Lillies burn in a fire a long time ago, but they have since gotten another one, and I got to take my picture in front of it (they don't let you take pictures at the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris). I got some pictures of some other ones I liked. There were so many Impressionists there!! I also loved that they had a really good collection of Degas. I always like his, partly because ballerinas were one of his main subjects. I also saw his iconic statue "Little Dancer" and they also had a good collection of some other statues he had made. Then on our way to the American art wing we stumbled across the weapons room and the historical instruments gallery. The instruments were cool, it was interesting to see the evolution of some instruments, and I got a picture of an early trombone. The weapons room had suits of armor on horses and there were flags up, so it totally reminded me of the scene in Bed Knobs and Broomsticks where the suits of armor come to life. The American art was baller as well. I saw George Washington crosses the Delaware, it is so HUGE. And also some good scenes of nature in America. They also had a portrait of George and a life mask of Lincoln. (Sometimes I wonder if there is ever anything left for other museums?!) After that we went to the Egypt room where they have rebuilt an Egyptian temple complete with Sphinxes and a pool. It was cool. I saw some pictures one time, this is where they have the Met Gala and Beyonce and Jay Z go hang out there with all the pretty people. So yeah, that's cool. We also looked at a lot of the Egyptian stuff they have. It's quite a lot. They have a good collection of a female Pharoah called Hatshepsut, so that was cool. Sad to say, after awhile, you get museum fatigue, and no matter how cool the stuff is there you are sick of standing/walking/reading the little plaques. We did get to the sculpture room and saw these young teens put on this modern dance performance. G thought it was weird, I thought it was New Yorky. I didn't check it out too much, but we did pass through the medieval collection, it looked like a catholic church. I think we saw probably 40% of what is in that museum. It was so huge. Another thing I thought was pretty cool is that they still have previous/older versions of the museum housed in the current one; ie, the very first Met building is small and made of brick or something, and they've just added on/built around it. And as the museum has grown they just keep adding on or building around it. It reminded me of in Europe how they try to preserve the old buildings but integrate the new structures around it. Very cool. After the Met, it was getting late so it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for another night on the town!

My other big goal in visiting NYC was to see the New York City Ballet. They are one of the biggest/best ballet companies in America and I was lucky enough to be in NYC when they were having performances. G and I got all dressed up for a fancy night at the ballet at Lincoln Center. We rode the subway there and came out across from the LDS temple in Manhattan! I'd been there before, but I just think it's so cool that the temple is right across from all that goes on at Lincoln Center. All those people get to see it. Anyway, the program for the night was a mix of five (I think) different ballets by "new" choreographers. New as in not Balanchine or Robbins. One of them was Justin Peck, who was the subject in the ballet documentary I saw in Portland earlier last year. I was super excited to see his original work. I tried to prepare G and let her know that this ballet could be a little different than what she's seen, more modern, not so much a story; she took that as the dancers would be naked! I didn't think they would be, but who knows? Thankfully they weren't but G does know she prefers ballet with a storyline. Again, I got us superb seats. I may never get back to the New York City Ballet so I wanted to see. But I think the Koch Theater doesn't really have bad seats because of how George Balanchine designed it. I felt all Sarah Jessica Parker (she's the president of the board of NYCB and besties with Peter Martins, the Ballet director) as I sat in that historic and glamorous theater. I loved all the ballet! NYCB has so so many talented dancers and it was crazy to see how good ALL of them were. Just like the cream of the crop of dancers there. I also was pleased to see Amar Ramasar dance, he's one of my favorites and I just love his style and athleticism. Bravo to him. Thankfully, G put up with all my ballet enthusiasm. After the ballet, I wanted to try to find this spot I had seen on a movie. You know in "Center Stage" where Jodi Sawyer gets applauded at the end of the movie? It's in a gallery and the white statues are on either end? Yeah, that was actually on the second floor not the first, and since we had seats on the floor we didn't go up that far. And then after the ballet they closed it off for a private event, so I didn't get to have my Center Stage moment. (I know, too many of my travel goals are based off what I've seen in movies, NYC especially). Anyway, we took a few pictures by the fountains in the middle of Lincoln Center, we were feeling so classy. Dinner was at an Italian joint near Lincoln Center that a guy at our hotel recommended to us. It was ok, I liked the fried ravioli and prosciutto we had as an appetizer but my chicken Parmesan was too much fried and too much cheese. Then it was time to head back to the hotel after a jam packed day!

We didn't have to much "planned" for Saturday. My goal was to visit the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across it. Our first stop when we got out was to visit the TKTS booth and try to get half price tickets to a show for that evening. It's in Times Square and they sell same day tickets to Broadway shows, usually at a good discount. We waited in line for awhile but it was moving pretty fast, however, when we finally got to the window we found out they were only selling tickets for the matinee shows. The evening shows would go on sale later that afternoon. Bummer. And then we decided it was chilly so we went back to the hotel to get our jackets, which ended up being a good decision because it was was a cold and windy day; and also we bought tickets over the phone for a show that evening. And then G decided she needed socks so we had to go back again to get her a pair of mine. So when we finally got going it was a little later than I would have hoped. We rode the subway downtown and got off near City Hall of New York City. I wasn't quite sure how the approach to the bridge would work but I figured we'd be able to see it/find it. And I was right. They have this pedestrian/bike path and a ramp that leads up to it. Not hard to locate. And then we were on the bridge! Brooooooooklynnnnnnnnn! I was super pumped to see it live and walk across it. I had read "The Great Bridge" by David McCullough earlier that year and learned a ton about it. It was quite a feat of engineering for its time and it is also amazing that it still stands and works today. I thought it was funny how after it was built it was a big deal to walk across it; it sort of feels like nothing has changed in a way because it's still a big deal to walk across it. The day we were there there was some kind of breast cancer walk for your life thingy going on and there were a bazillion of people dressed up in pink/costumes walking across the bridge to Brooklyn. So it was a bit crowded, however, it's probably always crowded. It was also cool to see Manhattan from the bridge. G and I walked across and then I was trying to figure out how to get down to the parks that are long the waterfront, get into Brooklyn itself. It was very confusing because the pedestrian path went really far into the city and away from the shoreline which is where I wanted to go. I decided that it wasn't worth it to me to keep trying to find the shoreline because we'd have to walk that much further when we decided to go back. Also, we had walked a ton in our first day and a half so I was probably a bit tired by now. So we walked back across the bridge and finished our tour of the bridge. I also educated G on what I could remember from the book I read. Better than a tour guide!!

G and I then wandered and found delicatessen type place for lunch, it wasn't fancy or trendy, but they had a variety of food and it was good, I think I had a wrap. I spied the Woolworth building so we headed over to check it out. The Woolworth building is one of the first skyscrapers built in America. It looks smallish now, but it was a big deal when it was built. One of the things I had found when trying to see what kind of events were going on in NYC the weekend we were there was a thing called Open House New York. The goal is to celebrate the architecture of New York city, so buildings that aren't usually open to the public are open for viewing and there are also lectures and things. I had thought the Woolworth was one that you could just pop in and see and right as we got to the building some people were gathering, but eventually I got told off by a OHNY volunteer that we were not welcome since we had not paid to take the tour. Ok, I just wanted to peek in, but we scattered. I think it would be cool to make a trip just for OHNY, but there are just so many places to see that you probably wouldn't get to see too much. One of the places that sounded cool to tour was a Jewish synagogue but it was closed on Saturday, their Sabbath. They also had really old buildings like the first treasury for America, super fancy high rises that are supposed to be urban friendly, furniture factories, a really old medical library, just all kinds of cool things. Alas, we missed it all because there are just too many things to see in NYC.

After that we walked down to the 9/11 memorial to check that out. I had been there before but G hadn't. I kind of wanted to go up to the observation deck of the new World Trade Center, it was just completed, but G wanted to tour the 9/11 museum, and I hadn't done that yet (it was not done when I was there before), so we did that. I did not get the city pass that gets you into a bunch of attractions because we weren't going to hardly any of the attractions it gets you into, but it would have been nice for the 9/11 museum. We waited a long time in line to buy tickets, and then we waited a long time to get into the museum. It took a long while. It was good to see the museum but it was not a happy time for sure. All my memories of that day and following events came back to me as I looked at the exhibits. It was definitely a somber experience and I got a little teary eyed a few times. I heard sniffling every so often as we went through. One side of the museum was more of an artwork/where do we go from here/actually showed you the steel anchors for one of the towers and how it was anchored into the ground (the museum is underground and they show you where the two towers once stood). The other side of the museum went through the chronological events and had images, video, sound clips and other things to map out and show what happened that day. I learned a lot more about what happened at the Pentagon, I hadn't known as much about that. I also learned about the first responders and what kinds of things all the people who were in the buildings and surrounding areas went through, how people got out of Manhattan right after the attack. There was a lot of memorabilia, tributes to the police and firefighters and a room dedicated to all who lost their lives that day and also a special tribute to those who died in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. One thing I noticed that was interesting is they did not have the iconic (to me anyway) photo of George W. Bush visiting Ground Zero speaking to the firefighters with a construction hat on. I remember people feeling very patriotic about that and Bush had a very high approval rating; it was just interesting to me that they did not include that. One of the most impacting things to me was a photo that was taken of Manhattan at 8:40 or so am right before the first airplane hit the tower. You can see the Twin Towers and it looks like a beautiful late summer day. It just hit home how much changed in an instant. How much of life was pre and post 9/11. I'm glad I got to see the museum, it was educational and definitely emotional.

It was evening by the time we finished with the 9/11 museum so it was time to head back uptown, find something to eat and get ready for our show.  G got a street hot dog, and I ended up getting a pretzel. Super lame food again! But it was quick and cheap. We had tickets to see a show called Allegiance which was actually still in previews and not officially open. It had George Takai and Lea Salonga and it was a musical about a family's experience in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. Loosely modeled after George Takai's experience when he was a child and was sent to a camp. It was a pretty good show, I wasn't expecting it to be as funny and heartwarming as it was. There were some good songs and dance numbers and the leads were good. Lea was amazing as always and I can't believe I actually saw her on Broadway! Since the show was in previews we got these questionnaires on our seats to rate things about the show. That was kind of fun, I felt like a theater critic. I'm very glad we were able to fit in a lot of shows during our trip. It was so fun to have so much to choose from and something to do at night, which you don't always get when you travel. We headed back to the hotel after the show ready to pass out.

Sunday was our last day in NYC as we were flying home that evening. We went to church at the Manhattan 1st ward, so that was pretty fun. It was funny to see all the visitors that were there, but cool that they all came to church! We only stayed for sacrament meeting though, so we were a little bit heathen. We headed back to the hotel, packed our suitcases and left them at the luggage check in the hotel. Central Park was the one and only goal of the afternoon and it was a perfect end to our trip.

We walked to Central Park because it was only about 6 blocks away from where we stayed. On our way there we spied this restaurant that had these pastries in a window and we knew we needed to try some. I have no idea what the thing we got was, only that it was this twisty pastry that had chocolate cocoa and also powdered sugar on it. The pastry wasn't too flaky. We ate it on a bench in Central Park and the sun was shining. It was beautiful. I wanted to hit all those things in Central Park that you see in movies/tv shows and also show G some of the things I had seen on my first visit there. We saw Sheeps Meadow, the Dairy Visitor Center (they used to give children milk here back in the day, like an early public health effort), the carousel, the Mall/Poets Walk, Balto!, Bethesda Terrace-fountain-boathouse, Conservatory pond, Alice in Wonderland statue, a pond, great views of NYC skyline, Belvedere Castle, Bow Bridge, and Strawberry Fields. I sort of wished the trees would be all yellow and orange but they hadn't really turned color yet, but a few were turning. It turned out to be a really beautiful afternoon and was warm. Near the Belvedere castle there is a belgian waffle cart that smelled too good to resist. I had the WMD which stood for Weapon of Mass Destruction, which meant I had the works on my waffle, banana, nutella, strawberries and whipped cream. Mmm. I'm salivating a little as I think about it. Everyone who walked by us as we were eating were totes jelly. We only got about halfway up in Central Park-it's huge! I wanted to rent bicycles to ride around but just assumed we'd come across a place where you rent the bikes, but I guess we missed it? Oh well. We still had a grand time. I don't know why, but Central Park is my most favorite thing in NYC. It's just a park, but it's still pretty cool.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel to get our suitcases and head to the airport. We gave ourselves three hours to get to the airport and get checked in. And that turned out to not be enough time, dun dun duuuunnn!! To Be Continued: The Trip to the Airport that Shaved 5 Years Off My Life.

One of the things we learned as we traveled around Manhattan was that not all the trains that run regularly during the week run on the weekends. People aren't needing to get to work and they close some stations down for repairs. They also run fewer trains which means you have to wait a lot longer at a stop for one to come. We saw a sign that stated the train we needed to get back out to JFK was going to be down for the weekend. I didn't have another good route to get to the airport and I was a little worried we'd just run into the same problem of having more trains down if we just picked another route. So we decided that maybe a taxi would be our best bet. Just get in the car and get there. Our trouble started as we tried to leave Central Park and get back to the hotel. The subway stop we wanted to take to get to the hotel was closed. So we had to walk a lot further to get to another station to get a subway back to the hotel. Once we got our bags we went to the front of the hotel and the doorman helped us get a taxi for the airport. I was a little nervous to take a taxi, I'd never been in one before and I didn't want to get scammed. I still remember the doorman telling us to buckle up, and boy am I glad I did!

Our taxi driver was the classic/stereotypical foreigner, I think he was maybe a Sikh and he wore a turban. He was trying to get a nice fat fare of taking someone to the airport. But we only went a few blocks before we ran into one of the worst traffic jams I've been in ever. We were traveling east and trying to cross 5th avenue but traffic was at a standstill. Our driver tried his best to bob and weave and get into spaces he probably shouldn't have. There wasn't a whole lot of room. We were stopping and starting and I was so glad I had my seatbelt on! The driver was getting really frustrated that we were not going anywhere, he spoke with his buddies over the radio to find out what was going on. Apparently this group/organization of Muslims were walking up 5th avenue to protest something or demonstrate something. So every time they got to an intersection the cops halted all traffic. The driver was annoyed because he said usually when there is something like this the cops will stop the march and let traffic go for a bit, but for some reason they weren't. We waited for a long time. I was getting really nervous and stressed because I did not want to miss my flight. Especially after having all that hassle getting to NYC! Eventually the march passed us and we were able to get on our way. More crazy driving, bobbing and weaving, (although it was probably a good thing our driver was so aggressive). We finally got off Manhattan, crossed a bridge and were in Queens. I got out my phone and followed our progress with my google map because I had no idea how far away we were from JFK or how long it should take us. I am a West Coast girl and we have highways where we actually get places. I was so stressed. And then! The driver starts getting OFF the main highway and started driving through these side roads and neighborhoods in Queens!! I was like, WTF WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! The highway is over there...I had no idea where we were but I was pretty sure driving through suburban neighborhoods wasn't going to get us where we wanted to go. Also, the stopping on a dime got worse as there were many more stoplights going through town. I think he thought he was taking a short cut/missing traffic/or going around tolls. It was just stressing me out. I prayed like nobody's business that I would be able to make my flight. I did not relish the idea of trying to stay overnight at JFK. The driver was getting stressed out that the trip was taking so long. We had agreed on a set price for the ride so he was going to be losing money on our trip; he was also going to be late turning his car in and getting off his shift. Nothing I could do about that...Eventually we got to JFK, I peaced out and left G to deal with the driver, she had a later flight than me and was at a different terminal. I went into the terminal and it took me like 15 minutes to get my dumb ticket printed at a kiosk, the kiosks weren't working right and the people in line in front of me were not super adept at using them. Finally I had my ticket in hand, and then I had to get through security, which was not moving the fastest either. When I got through I ran to my gate and the sign said the gate to my flight was changed. I almost cried because I did not want to have to run again, but thankfully the gate was only one or two down. I had just enough time to buy a water bottle and some pretzels and then they started boarding. Phew!! The only consolation was that they had an in-flight movie on the way home. Oh, and the view of NYC at sunset as we flew over was pretty sweet too.

I quite enjoyed my trip. Pretty much everything was what I wanted to do. I am still bummed that I missed my flight there. Thursday morning was the day I had planned to go check out the West Village and SoHo. I had my cronut pre-ordered and my goal was to breakfast on the High Line. Ugh, I still want to go on the High Line so so badly. And eat a cronut. So I was sad about missing that. I also still did not make it to the MoMA but I saw lots of other art so that was ok. It would have been really cool to go to a really cool old building or skyscraper. But I was so fortunate to even go on this trip. I can't complain. One thing I realized is that even though the subways make NYC super easy to get around, it still takes time. For some reason I didn't really count that in as a factor when planning all that we could do in a day. The walking to the stops, waiting for the trains, riding the trains all took more time than I had figured. For some reason I had this idea in my head that I'd be bopping from one place to another like nothing. The hotel we stayed at was the Sheraton near Times Square. I think I got a decent deal on it, and it was a pretty good sized room for NYC. The location was great, right next to several subway stops and it was in midtown Manhattan so it wouldn't have been hard to get almost anywhere. However, I felt like we were in the super touristy part of NYC and being around Times Square is a bit sketchy. If I go again I'd like to find some cute apartment in SoHo or the Upper West Side to stay at. Of course when I make my millions I'll stay at some fancy hotel like the Ritz-Carlton right across from Central Park, ;) The other goal I didn't really do was eat somewhere super trendy/local. NYC is full of restaurants of all kinds and types. I sort of just wanted to pick a country and find a restaurant that had its cuisine. I just wanted to go somewhere and spend a little money and have a fancy meal. Unfortunately, the way I travel is "gotta see everything!" so eating at cool places is further down the list/gets abandoned for sake of time. We just didn't have the time to find somewhere to eat, wait for a table, eat, and get to our shows. So eating was a little weird this trip. I want to be better at that because I really enjoy going places and trying a local restaurant or something. G was funny because she kept mixing "Uptown" and "Downtown" when we were getting on subway trains. She lives south of SLC, but SLC is considered "Downtown", (I think it's a Utah thing, people there say "I'm going down to Rexburg, Idaho." when to me Idaho is north so I would say "Up"...weirdos). Anyway, good thing I was with her or she probably would have gotten herself to the Bronx or something. Also, confession, I bought a selfie stick at the airport on my way. I only used it in Central Park, but it was kind of handy to use. I didn't have to hand my phone over to a random stranger that would probably take a crappy picture. I didn't take it to Disneyland though because they are banned there.

New York City is something else. There is just so much to see and do there. It's not like I'm ready to move there or anything but it's an amazing place to visit. I'm not trying to brag or anything, my life is seriously not this exciting 90% of the time. I hope I can get back to NYC someday and hit up some more things on my NYC To-Do List. It was such a fun trip and I'm glad G got to come with me!

the broken femur adventure of 2006

Well, it’s hard to believe, but it’s been a whole decade since the trampoline incident. I thought that would be a good anniversary to get the whole story down for posterity. It’s a good one. What follows are the events that transpired to bring about my breaking my right femur while jumping on a trampoline, my subsequent dropping out of college, learning to walk again, and the after effects.

I was a freshman in college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It was winter semester of 2006 and my second semester at school. I was having a great time. I had sort of figured out what I was doing in college and enjoying my independence. I had a great group of friends, I enjoyed my classes, and there were plenty of antics and shenanigans all around.

Jenna Barrowes lived on my floor, (Hinkley Hall, Helaman Halls), and her family lived in Spanish Fork, Utah, about half an hour south of Provo. About halfway through the semester she invited a group of us to her parents’ house to hang out one evening on the weekend. We went to her house and enjoyed playing games, eating snacks, and enjoying being out of the dorms. Jenna’s house had an interesting feature. In the basement they had a trampoline installed in the floor. There was an area that was dug out for a pit for the trampoline, and then instead of a ceiling over the trampoline, it was like a large shaft and it went all the way up to the main floor ceiling. The idea was that one could just walk onto the trampoline from the floor and start jumping. The walls were even padded with mats for safety. There was a small ledge on the opposite side of the trampoline that one could stand on while waiting for someone else to jump. It was a pretty sweet setup being inside, and in theory, it was pretty safe. You couldn’t technically fall off the trampoline since it was even with the basement floor.

you can see the padded walls behind the back of the couch

We all had fun jumping on the trampoline. I had jumped on a neighbor’s trampoline growing up and was familiar with different tricks and things that you could do. At one time in my life I was able to even do a flip in the air and land it. But it had been awhile. We took turns watching each other or going over to play a game in the other area of the basement. There was also foosball going on. Micah Price was jumping on the trampoline and (I don’t remember if he was trying to flip or not) and he came down weird and fell and hit his head on one of the springs of the trampoline. It was bloody. Jenna’s dad looked at the gash and determined that it would probably need stitches. He was an orthodontist but didn’t want to be the one doing stitches. So he called in a favor to another doctor in the area and we all trooped over while the doctor opened up his clinic late at night. The rest of us watched while he stitched Micah up, there were plenty of photos taken and I think Jenn even took a video because things like that fascinated her. It was very generous of this doctor friend to come open up his clinic and stitch Micah up. We went home later that night, most of us had a fun time.

our adventure to get Micah stitches

Since Micah had stitches in his head, they needed to be taken out about two weeks later. Jenna said her dad could take them out. So we again went down to Spanish Fork for another evening of games and hanging out…and trampoline-ing. This was a few days after St. Patrick’s Day in March. I also remember that this second game night upped the stakes for a few people, there seemed to be a lot more plotting of who was invited and who was supposed to be paired up with whom. Because we were at BYU and we were freshman and that sort of thing goes on.

Micah got his stiches out. We had a great night playing foosball, chatting, the cup game had become popular for some reason at the cannon center among our crowd so I think we played that, another game called “curses” that was pretty hilarious (and later, ironic), and more trampoline jumping. The game “curses” was pretty funny, you get cards that make you do certain things such as only talk in an irish accent, or always thump your chest when you take a card, or other strange things, and then things you do set other people up to do their things and you keep getting more cards until there are all kinds of silly things you have to do. If you forget to do a thing then you get penalized. Anyway, it’s a pretty entertaining game.

playing "Curses", little did I know the curse that would hit me later

the cup game!

At some point I separated from the group at went back on the trampoline. I can’t remember if anyone else was with me at this point. I was working on my flips. I had gotten to a point where I could flip over, but I would land sitting down instead of my feet. I was sort of chickening out but I thought I could maybe get to where I could land on my feet if I kept trying. I was jumping and turning and trying to think of adjustments I could make to get this flip to work. I went up for a flip, hoping I could make this one work. As I was in the air things felt a little weird so I decided not to rotate for the full flip. But I was already rotated a little bit and as I was coming down, for some reason I couldn’t get myself all the way back to straight up and down. I landed wonky and I heard this popping noise that was kind of loud. I immediately collapsed to the trampoline and just laid there.

It took a minute, but eventually someone said, “You guys, Meagan’s not getting up!” Everyone stopped their game and came over to look at me. Now, it was kind of weird, you’d think if I had just broken my femur I’d be wailing in pain. But I wasn’t. I had no idea what happened, just that something was wrong and that I couldn’t/shouldn’t get up. They got Jenna’s dad to come down to the basement, we told him what happened and he thought maybe a ligament popped and told me to try getting up. I braced my hands against the trampoline to push off of and tried to get up. Then it was super painful! I laid back down and then looked at my leg. You know the part in Harry Potter #2 where Harry breaks his arm in Quidditch, and then Lockhart takes all the bones out of his arm and it goes all wonky/rubbery?? Yeah, that’s what my leg looked like. It still felt like it was going in a certain direction but when I looked down at it, my leg was totally going in a different and unnatural direction. And that freaked me out.

Someone called 911 and an ambulance was sent to the house. I knew I had insurance but was not familiar with how that worked at all. My friends wanted to come comfort me, but any movement on the trampoline would move my leg around and it killed me. Scott Shrank crawled out to me and gave me a blessing. It was one of those times when you move away from home that you are grateful for the guys who hold the priesthood and who you can call on for blessings in times of need. There were probably several guys there who could have done the same thing for me. I still remember feeling Scott’s hands on my head and feeling calm and comforted. Monica Milburn also made her way out to me at some point and was comforting me by stroking my hair. It was very soothing to have her do that. You may be wondering why I wasn’t bawling my eyes out in pain at this point. I think I wasn’t crying mostly because I was in shock-like literal shock. My body was shutting certain things down because of the trauma that happened. I also think I have a pretty high pain tolerance. And as long as the trampoline wasn’t going up and down my leg wasn’t moving and it didn’t hurt too badly.

Gretchen may have been called at some point. I didn’t have a cell phone at this point in my life, but I knew Gretchen’s number and I think someone called her. They took me to UVRMC in Provo, partly because of her being up there. Otherwise they probably would have taken me to the hospital in Payson.

The EMTs arrived and that was an adventure itself. The trampoline was in the basement, and the stairwell to get to the basement takes a turn as you go down, and is also not very wide. So they had a fun time getting the stretcher down the stairs. I remember the first EMT to try to reach me was this older lady and she was not thoughtful/coordinated about getting on the trampoline at all. She took a big step onto it and totally made my leg move up and down and THAT is when it really started hurting. She crawled out to me and tried to assess the situation. I don’t remember much after that. It’s a bit hazy. Somehow they got me onto a body board which required turning my leg a bit/trying to straighten it out. That was very painful. And then I was strapped into the stretcher because they were going to have to tilt and turn me to get me up the stairs from the basement. That part was THE WORST. Pressure and weight was being put on my leg and they were trying to keep me from sliding out of the stretcher. I bet the EMTs were cursing under their breath about the set up of the stairs, but I also think they are trained for weird situations like that. I was in and out of it by this point, the pain was getting pretty bad. They loaded me in the ambulance and I think it may have been snowing.
I’m sorry to say I don’t remember much of my ambulance ride. I do remember they did not turn the lights or siren on. (FYI, they bill you extra for that,). I don’t think any of my friends came with me, although I heard later they followed behind in a car. The EMTs tried to hook me up to an IV, but had trouble doing it in either arm. Again, I think because my body was going into shock my veins were getting all small and shutting down. Eventually they got one in my hand. The other part I remember is that they were chatting away about their day/what they were doing when they got the call. I got kind of mad at them for that in my mind. How could they be so calm and passive and just chit chatting when there was this emergency going on!! I don’t remember anything else significant from the ambulance ride.

I got taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center which is the hospital in Provo, Utah. I went into the ER and the first thing they wanted to do was take X-rays. They cut my jeans on the right leg to open them up. I remember the X-ray tech was pregnant, so she had to go out of the room when the X-rays were being taken. That was very painful because they were moving my leg around to get different views and they put a pillow under it which helped a little. Eventually I was given pain meds, 2 doses of morphine and 1 dose of Valium. The Valium was to keep my muscles from spasming because they had been through a lot of trauma. Whenever the muscles moved they would pull on my broken bone and that was so so painful!! They also put my leg in traction, which is a contraption that held my leg in place so it couldn’t move and therefore be less painful. Getting into traction was crazy painful because they had to straighten out my leg a little and that hurt so badly! Even with all the drugs.

Gretchen came to the hospital, I remember her coming into my room. I also remember Jenn LaRose coming into my room, she got excited by all the medical things. Others may have come in too, I just don’t remember. It’s all a little hazy, I was so drugged up. I learned later that my friends followed the ambulance to the hospital and hung out in the waiting room for awhile. It was said that at one point they were bored and were giving each other massages. I got mildly offended by that! Here I was suffering agonizing pain and they were giving each other massages! Thanks guys!!

Jenn giving a massage

supportive friends followed me to the hospital

It turned out that I had broken my right femur. It’s what is called a transverse fracture. I broke the bone all the way across but it did not break through my skin. The X-rays are pretty cool, the bone broke clear across and the two ends came next to each other. I don’t remember talking to a doctor about it at all. I must have, because I was over 18 when this happened. For whatever reason, they decided to do surgery the next day. It must not have been critical enough. I broke my leg on a Saturday night, it was probably between 10:00 and 11:00 at night when I got to the hospital. I think Gretchen called my parents and they drove down the next day. I didn’t see them until after my surgery.

Then I spent my first night ever in a hospital. I was taken up to a private hospital room. I don’t remember hardly any of that night or next day. I do remember though that the first night was the one and only time I had a male nurse. I told him I needed to go to the bathroom, but I couldn’t really get out of bed, and not being a guy, I couldn’t just pee in a jar. What happened was that he had to roll me over to one side, stick this bucket underneath me, and then roll me back on top of it so I could do my business. I couldn’t roll very well because of my crippled leg, so I literally had to grab his arm and pull myself up onto the bucket. I was so embarrassed. I probably flashed him as well because at this point I was in a hospital gown. He left so I could do my business. But then between the pain and the pain meds I passed out on top of the bucket and fell asleep like that. I have no idea how long I was there, but the nurse came back sometime later, (I think he forgot about me, and I was passed out so I couldn’t remind him to come get me), and we had to do the whole rolling thing all over again. And after all that, I don’t think I even did #1 or #2. Which was maybe a blessing because he would have had to wipe me. Ewww.

The next morning, Sunday, I had surgery. I don’t remember anything at all from before surgery. I sort of remember seeing Gretchen, my mom tells me I got mad at her for throwing ice chips. I don’t remember being put under anesthesia, and I don’t remember being in the Pre Op, surgical, or post Op areas. Eventually I came out from anesthesia and woke up from the surgery. I kind of remember it was evening again when I was even remotely “with-it”. I remember my mom being in the hospital room at this point. My bishop came to visit me. He was nice, I felt bad that he had to deal with something like this! I felt bad that I was that girl who broke her leg. I’m sure the story spread among my ward really fast. My friends came to visit me in the hospital. Julianne Given drew all over the white board where the nurses write their names. Jenn brought me my laptop, my iPod, and a few other things like a Sudoku book maybe? I think I also got a card and a balloon. We got some good pictures of me when I was really high. I accidentally pressed the Call button and had to tell the nurse it was an accident. Everyone thought that was really funny. My parents had driven down from Washington state that day. Jillian was still in high school so she had to stay with a neighbor for a few days. Dad came down Sunday but had to go back to work so he rode the Greyhound bus to get home. Mom stayed with me.

Visitors! Shane Brunscheen, Monica Milburn, Micah Price, Courtney Holland, Jenn LaRose, Julianne Given and Marissa Roberts

So high right now

My mom tells me that I was freaking out a bit about my surgery. What they did was put a metal rod down the middle of my femur and two screws on either end to hold it in place. It ended up being ok the way I broke my bone, they just let the top part sit on top of the bottom part, the weight would help the bone grow back together. I was actually able to put weight on my leg the day after surgery, which made using crutches much easier. The part I was worried about was that I knew you produce blood cells in the bone marrow of your large flat bones. Your femur being one of them. I guess I was worried that with one femur down my body wouldn’t be able to produce enough red blood cells. I don’t remember this so much, but my mother maintains that I was freaking out about this a lot.

I learned later on that the physician who did my surgery was Dr. Bacon. I don’t remember if I ever met him when I was coherent. Hahaha. Being on a lot of drugs and anesthesia, I don’t remember a whole lot of the day I had surgery. I’m just glad I had it and that things turned out ok.

I spent Sunday night in the hospital. The next day, they got me up for my first physical therapy lesson. They had to drape another hospital gown around me so I didn’t flash anyone and they also had a PT belt around my middle so they could hold me up. They also put my shoes on my feet for more traction while walking around. My physical therapist gave me a ton of grief about my shoelaces. When I was a freshman I had this pair of Doc Martins that I wore to school. They were brown and had thick soles and the shoelaces were about two miles long. He kept teasing me because he thought it was ridiculous how long they were. I was used to it…but he thought it was funny. We did a really short intro into physical therapy. They got me on my crutches and it was ok that I put weight on my leg. That really made the whole experience with crutches better. They taught me how to use the crutches and which leg and crutch to put forward and not fall down while walking. We went down a hall and then there was this small set of stairs where I learned how to do stairs. The therapist said to remember heaven and hell. The good leg goes up to heaven and the bad leg goes down to hell. So when I was going up the stairs my good leg would go first and then I would push off of that leg to step up. And when I was going down the stairs my bad leg would go first because then it wouldn’t have to bend. So bad leg, then crutches which could bear the weight while my good leg stepped down. It wasn’t a long session, mostly to teach me how to maneuver.

I think they released me from the hospital that day. My mom was staying at the Super 8 that was across the street from Helaman Halls; that was depressing. The whole getting out to the car was an experience. When you leave the hospital they have to wheel you out in a wheelchair for safety/protocol reasons. Only, I couldn’t really bend my right leg and I couldn’t really hold it up, so trying to sit in a wheelchair was pretty painful. The orderly tried to prop my leg up with pillows which helped a little. I wondered where the wheelchair was that held your leg up, but I guess UVRMC didn’t have a spare one for me. My mom brought the van around and I then had to get into the van. Same issues. Couldn’t really bend my right leg or put any weight on it. It was quite the ordeal and physically exhausting and painful. I had to sit on the middle bench of the van with my leg propped up. We drove over to the hotel and I slept that night on the couch because it felt more comfortable than lying down. I don’t remember if we did anything else this day, probably not.

The next day we had to deal with life. I had to drop out of college. This event happened with 5 weeks left in the semester. It was kind of a sucky point to have to drop out of school. It was long enough in the semester that I wouldn’t be getting a ton of my tuition money back. But it was not long enough to get partial credit or for them to say that I could count my classes or put them on hold until I could take my finals. And all that money for room and board and food, totally wasted because this semester wasn’t going to count. Initially I had thought I could maybe stay in school. There were only five weeks left of school, I could totally get to classes, maybe miss a week but still I could do it. My mom drove me to the administration building so I could talk to them. The walk from the car into the building about killed me. And I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to crutch around BYU for five weeks. Even if my friends volunteered to drive me around campus in a golf cart (which they really, really wanted to do). So I ended up dropping out of college. Which is kind of weird to say. I also realized that I have permanent academic evidence of this as well. My college transcript has 6 “Ws” on it for “withdraw.” Which I hope doesn’t look too sketchy…It kind of helped a little, I wasn’t doing too hot in Psychology so I got out of that one. I do regret that I missed a few other classes. I didn’t take up Spanish again after this. I was in the class they put returned missionaries in and felt super out of place, so I chickened out and never returned to Spanish. I could have taken like 6 more classes and gotten a minor. I also missed the end of Personal Finance. I had a really good teacher and I was learning a lot of good stuff for life. I didn’t end up taking this class again. I did have to take Book of Mormon 2nd semester again, so I was able to find a better teacher. I also took Biology 100 Honors instead of regular Bio 100 because that class was so freaking boring. The honors section was way more interesting, a smaller class, and my professor ended up being a hoot. I also took human development instead of psychology and that was a really good class to take. The only good thing about Psychology was that I had it with one of my best friends, Kameron Welsch, who I grew up next door to. It was fun to have a class with him at BYU and get to see each other twice a week. Also we liked to mimic our Psychology professor, Dawson Hedges, and Kams liked to call him Big D. And in psychology you talk about development a little so Kameron was drawing these fetuses that we named Big D-tus the Fetus. Yep, we were making sure all that tuition money was money well spent. The lady who withdrew me said they would email all my teachers and let them know what happened. But I don’t know if they really did because a few weeks after I moved home I got an email from my tap class teacher saying, “Meagan, we haven’t seen you in a long time. Is everything ok?” That was kind of funny.

After I dropped out of school we went to work on packing up my stuff in my dorm room. My angel mother had to do it all because I had a bum leg. I just laid on my bed all drugged up watching her pack it up. Later that summer we found out that my mom had cancer, so that makes what she did for me in this whole ordeal even more meaningful. It was super depressing watching her pack up all my stuff. I was very upset about having to leave BYU.

I had one last meal at the Cannon Center. Had to use the Dining Plus one more time right?!

That night, my friends had a “good-bye” party for me. We hung out in the lobby of Hinckley Hall and friends and ward peeps came to say good bye. It was so weird that I was the one leaving. I’ve never been the one to have stuff happen to her, but I guess it was my turn. Monica had gotten some butcher paper and taped it on the wall and people wrote little messages on it. I still have it to this day. My FHE group came and we had one last photo shoot. I really loved my freshman FHE family. It was where I made most of my main friends. They were really great. Micah and Shane Brunscheen were really entertaining the whole night. They were messing around with my crutches. Jenna and this kid named Clay (?) played some music on their guitars. Then people got bored and started braiding hair. Haha. I don’t know. I was so high on drugs still. It was kind of weird to be hanging out in my jammies, but that’s all I could get on my body at the time. Anyway, various people came in and out to say hi and good-bye. I’m sure they all heard about it when it happened. It’s weird to think that I was the story. Oh yeah, at one point Monica taped my X-ray on a light on the ceiling so people could see my broken bone. Pretty much everyone was incredulous at the image. They just did not believe I did that jumping on a trampoline and they all freaked out once they thought about how much it must have hurt. It was a fun little party.

Awww, this still makes me feel special

Loved my crazy FHE familly

showing off the bruise I got from the incompetent EMTs

they were making fun of how short my crutches were and trying to imagine how it would be like to be that short

a show!

hair braiding

I still have this poster, I had it on my wall while I recovered. I think Monica came up with it, thanks Monica!

Yup. This is what happened to my femur. Ouch!

Then we went back upstairs to my room. I wanted to spend one last night in the dorm. We took some last pictures as a crew and I said good bye to a few more people. My friends were so sweet. A couple of them slept on the floor of my room, we had a slumber party of sorts. I felt bad, I got to sleep in my bed but they stayed on my floor for most of the night.

The next day sucked so bad. My mom came and packed up the rest of my stuff and it was time for me to leave BYU for real. I probably cried the whole way home. We originally were just going to go half way that day, like maybe Boise, but I think my mom just wanted to get me home. We stopped around Mountain Home, she had a short nap, and then kept on driving home.

Eventually I saw an orthopedic surgeon here at home. (Ironically I work for them now). They took a few sets of x-rays to make sure my bones were growing the way they were supposed to. They also took my staples out. I had them in three different spots. Dr Higgs told me that one of my legs is shorter than the other (I don’t believe it). I also was a little worried that I had some kind of disease or early onset osteoporosis because the femur is supposed to be the strongest bone in your body and I managed to break it. Dr Higgs ordered a bone density scan for me, everything came back normal. I started physical therapy. I went a couple times a week and then had exercises to do at home. At first I just had to practice stepping up onto this box that wasn’t very high. I also was on a stationary bike that I couldn’t even pedal all the way around on. But little by little I got better and I was getting stronger. As I got rid of the crutches I started developing a bit of a limp. So they put me in aqua therapy to even out my gait. It was pretty sweet. The therapy place had a pool in a room, the pool had a treadmill at the bottom. I’d wear my swimming suit to the therapy office. So I’d get in and just walk in the water on the treadmill. The aid had to lower the water level often when I came because I am so short, sometimes it would be really high. I didn’t need to drown. The pace of the treadmill could be sped up or slowed down depending on what was needed. I still remember to this day when she turned the speed up faster and I was running in the pool. It felt so good to run, to move faster than I had in a really long time. I’m so grateful for modern technology that made me able to walk normally again. My therapist’s name was Joanie Jensen but I actually worked with the aid Lynette a lot. Especially in the pool. She had to lifeguard me. The only thing that was hard for me was having to small talk with people at therapy. I’m not good at that. I’m sure they all thought I was so quiet.

Healing myself was a bit of a process. I couldn’t bend my leg for a while so I had to ride in the middle seat of the car and at dinner I had to prop my leg up on a chair. It was exciting as I got better and better at bending my leg. I couldn’t bend down to sit on the toilet so my mom had to help me with that for a little while. I told her I thought I’d be wiping her butt before she’d have to wipe mine again! I also wasn’t stable in the shower so my parents bought a shower chair. I had to sit on it to bathe myself. I felt so old. My mom would threaten me with cold showers if I didn’t do my therapy exercises because she controlled the temperature. The weirdest thing was learning I couldn’t really roll over in my bed with my leg not bending. I have to fall asleep on my stomach but I couldn’t roll over so the first few nights my parents tucked me in my bed and then I had to sleep on my back all night and was stuck there until they got me up in the morning. Eventually I learned to kind of throw myself over in one motion so I could fall asleep on my stomach. It was so weird that breaking my leg would affect being able to turn over, but it totally did. The other weird thing was my stability. As I ditched the crutches I could get around ok and my walking was fine. But for up to maybe a year afterward every once in a while I’d just be standing there and all of a sudden kind of stumble and almost fall over. Kind of like tripping, but I wasn’t moving beforehand, I was just standing there. The other weird thing was learning to run again. I was doing ok walking but I have a specific memory of trying to jog and my limp just coming back when I ran. Which was weird because I was walking just fine. I have no lasting effects from breaking my femur besides when I sit on the ground and put the heels of my feet together, my right knee can’t go as far down as my left can. I used to be pretty flexible, but I literally can’t get my right knee down as far. It’s weird. My fingers are crossed that nothing bad happens and I have to get the rod taken out for whatever reason. I think that would be worse. Dr. Higgs told my mom about someone who broke their femur on a trampoline for a second time and had to have the rod taken out. It became one of her favorite stories to tell. I just shudder thinking about it. I hope that nothing weird happens when I’m an old lady either. I just want to leave it in there and not have it cause any problems. ‘Mkay pumpkin?

I got really sick of my crutches. It sucks having to cart them around with you and needing them to make any movement. I grew to hate that smell of rubber. I wanted to burn them after my ordeal but my dad wouldn’t let me because he had paid money for them. We kept them for a while but eventually they got taken to Goodwill.

Other random things…ummm…pooping was really hard to do after surgery and all the pain killers. Pain meds make you very constipated. I remember trying so hard one day to poop and I used all my might. I got one very little, round, hard poop. But if you’ve been there yourself you know it’s quite an accomplishment.

My roommate Jenn told me that men who break their femur sometimes become infertile. Thanks for that, Jenn! But I don’t think I have to worry about that.

To this day I have a fear of trampolines. I haven’t been on one since. Those gyms with trampolines and foam pits are my worst nightmare. I don’t freak out as much as I used to when I see one, but I get super nervous watching small children on them. I wouldn’t wish my experience on my worst enemy. I feel bad for my future children because their mother will not be letting them have a trampoline ever. Sorry guys!

My mother still worries about my bum leg. I hardly ever think about it, but if something is sore she’ll ask me if it’s the leg I broke, as if the leg had something to do with it. No matter how much I tell her my leg is fine now, she still worries. I was back at BYU Fall semester and did just fine. Walking up those south of campus stairs all the time was probably great physical therapy. Haha.

FYI, they will bill you for everything when you ride in an ambulance. It was probably a good thing I didn’t get lights and sirens because that would have cost extra. I’m not even kidding. I didn’t have a clue about insurance back then. I’m sure the whole thing cost a pretty penny and I’m grateful my parents took care of the bill for me. They rock. Also, you should be aware of the hospital in your area that accepts your medical insurance. Because the one I went to technically didn’t, but they paid the bill because the “ambulance took me there” so it wasn’t like I chose to go a hospital that didn’t take my insurance. Let that be a lesson to you all.

I have a great injury story to tell now. Almost everyone has their own injury story, when they start rolling I try to hold off until the end because I know I will best almost everyone. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of my broken femur story, only I don’t tell it as much as I used to. The best reaction I got was from Lincoln Haycock, a guy in my junior year ward. He was so squeamish when I told my story and was freaking out as I described what my bones did. It was hilarious. The only time I ever got beaten was from Travis Beckett, who had been either longboarding or riding his bike down the ramp on the hill to BYU and he crashed and had a concussion and gashed up his face. It was pretty gruesome.

The dumbest reaction I had to my broken leg was when I went with Nikita Dabling to a local institute class. I had pajama pants on and my crutches. We went to this opening social thing. Naturally people wanted to know why I was on crutches. So I told them and part of the story was explaining that I had a rod and two screws in my bone, that was why I didn’t have a cast. This one girl got really confused because after I told her she asked me if I took my rod off at night….??!!! I hope she’s doing well!

I watched a lot of movies and TV that spring as that was all I was good for. I am proud of myself for learning to walk and then getting a job (at walgreens, yuck). But I did have work and got money for school. Yeah, 2006 was kind of sucky at times.

I had the gnarliest bruise!! It had all the colors in it. My entire right thigh was so colorful. Black, blue, purple, green, yellow, red, etc. It was beautiful. I was just sad I couldn’t show it off a ton because it was in an immodest spot. I also had this nasty bruise on my right big toe toenail. I had dropped a metal bed frame on it a few weeks earlier when we were moving a bed in Marissa Roberts’ room. The bruise made my toenail fall off eventually. It was funny though because it was pretty noticeable and some people thought it was connected to my broken femur. It did come in handy though. For some reason, my father couldn’t for the life of him remember which leg I broke. ??? I don’t know either. So I had to tell him to look at my toe. Bad toe, bad leg. It helped a little.

this is it toned down a little

I do not set off metal detectors in the airport. I’m kind of bummed about that. When I am resurrected, I am going to reach into my casket and pull out my rod and swing it around my head and whoop and holler. It’s going to be so fun. I did get to use the electric scooters at Fred Meyer a few times. That was fun. They beep when you back up. They also go faster than my mom can walk, hehe. I do have copies of my before and after x-rays. They are really fun to look at.

Moving home was so hard. I was really enjoying my time at BYU. I loved the environment, my independence, the learning I was doing, and I was really starting to feel comfortable among my peers and was starting to come out of my shell. I had made some really great friends. We were having so much fun just being silly freshman. It killed me when I moved home and I would get on Facebook and see pictures of everything I was missing. There was even a boy that I had just noticed, (that no one else had yet) and I really wanted to try to get to know him a little. My RA was going to have a Holi color war the next weekend and I had been part of the planning of that. It was so hard to see everyone’s pictures from that knowing it would have been so much fun. I missed out on the end of the year antics and the last minute hanging out that was going on. From what I can tell, it was kind of like graduating from high school in that we weren’t going to see a lot of these people for a few years. Most of the boys were going on missions and we were all going in different directions. I know there were probably several late night chats, runs to denny’s, hikes to the “Y”, etc. I think my grades probably would have sucked, but I would have really enjoyed it. There were two things that really helped though. One was that my friends sent me a care package. There were just odds and ends in the box, a book, Cadbury mini eggs, stickers, and cards. But it meant they missed me and were thinking of me. I was so homesick for BYU and that really helped. The other thing that helped was the General Conference weekend that came a few weeks later. I was missing my life at college so badly and just really bummed out. I think it was the Saturday afternoon session, we went to the church to watch (this was before it was broadcast on the internet) and I still had to sit with my leg up on the bench. The choir for that session ended up being made up of BYU choir peeps, and Cecil O Samuelson either spoke or said a prayer. I just remember being really excited to see my BYU homies and it made me less sad. It may seem a little silly but I remember feeling at the time thinking that Heavenly Father did it for me to feel less sad about not being at BYU. It was really hard to be home, but that made it a little better. Once everyone else was done with school for the summer it wasn’t as hard either.

My mom has told me since that I had a really good attitude about the whole thing. She tells me that I didn’t really complain or whine about my situation. I don’t remember being cheerful necessarily, but I think I just did what I needed to to get better and got on with it. I know my mom and I definitely bonded over this experience and she did so much for me.

So each year I remember the fateful day I broke my femur on a trampoline. It changed my life in so many ways. It was something hard that I had to work through unlike anything I had to do before. It made me not want to take my body for granted. I may think I can’t do certain things but everything still works and is functional for the most part. You don’t really know what you have until it’s gone. It’s not really a sad or painful memory anymore, mostly just a good story to tell. It’s also something I can look back on and see how hard I worked to overcome the trial.

Happy Ten Year Broken Femur Anniversary!!

Meagan