On the bright side of today

I got to be in an ambulance for the first time

Which was actually on my bucket list

Even though I fell off that pool ladder

And grizzly dislocated my right knee

After getting a brutally invasive surgery on my left

Even after strangers pulled me out of the water, screaming

An elderly man and a middle aged woman

Gently carrying me to the stairs

Even as my wails

Pierced the air around me

As I fought hyperventilation

Even as the paramedics hoisted my body

Out of the water

Still in a bathing suit

Even as the fentanyl made my head spin

While I tried to hold steady conversation

With the man in the back with me

Even as the doctor popped me back into place

And supplied me with a large, bulky brace

On my only vacation for a year

Even as it set in

That I would be starting this journey all over again

When I wasn’t yet done with the first

I got something good out of this, I guess.