I alluded yesterday to the amazing day we had on the lake with family and amazing it was.

But as I’ve mentioned before, even the sweetest smelling roses have thorns.

Quick tidbit of information: I rarely get in the water when we go to the lake. I’m not afraid of the water but I do not tolerate cold/cool water. So I happily stay dry on the boat and shoot pictures. But it’s July in Arizona and the water was just the right temperature for me. So I went on the tube with Bennett and my sister-in-law and I was convinced to try wake surfing for the first time.

Wake surfing is surprisingly easier than most everything I’ve tried on the lake and even enjoyable. I got up easily and then worked to feel comfortable maneuvering the board. It was a little awkward but fun. I fell a two times and decided I would try once more before getting back in the boat. Third time is a charm, right?

The nose of the surfboard started to dip into the water and I couldn’t recover. Which sent my body falling forward resembling this picture:

Somewhere within the fall the fin on the board found my head and hit it pretty good. I came up from the water holding my head in pain. I bobbed in the water for a minute tilting my head back in the water. I could hear them talking about me on the boat. “Did she hit her head.” “No.” “She’s holding her head, I think she hit her head.”

I saw blood on my hand but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Once the boat got closer they could tell it was coming from my head. (I’m still not sure how the board hit me exactly – I couldn’t recreate the accident if I tried.)

I was examined by the informal medical staff on the boat (aka husband, brother, brother-in-law, sister-in-law) and it was determined it was a decent cut but the massive headache seemed like my major concern. I applied pressure and advil.

By the time we got off the boat and returned home my course of action was to go to our neighbor and have her help me clean it out. But while dropping off the boat my sister-in-law who wasn’t with us examined it and determined stitches were definitely necessary. It seems as though my minor looking cut swelled over time to show just how deep and open it was. Did I mention my headache grew increasingly worse? It did.

Some numbing agent and 8 stitches later…

The wound was still bleeding, so the doctor determined we needed to apply pressure. This is where the whole visit became rather funny. No matter how much wrap was applied, it kept sliding off the top of my head and it wouldn’t work vertically wrapped either. Steve was laughing, I was laughing, the doctor was laughing. By far the best time I’ve ever had in a doctor’s office. Eventually, we bagged the wrap altogether and applied pressure with a towel like I had done on the boat.

The worse news of the visit – I couldn’t wash my hair for a while. My hair is typically a disaster when left to air dry. But throw some lake water, wind, blood and stitches and it’s just plain offensive! I think Steve was embarrassed to have me as his passenger as we stopped by Sonic on the way home to grab some slushies.

I masked the awful nature of my hair the next day by pulling it back in a pony tail, although the matted hairs around my face couldn’t be hidden. Not to mention two stitches left long (making them easier to cut out later) stuck out an inch from the top of my head. I have never wanted to scrub shampoo so bad!

Moral of the experience…I am a better photographer than a wake surfer and I’m going to start a new trend and wear a helmet if I ever try it again! (Why is it that surfers don’t wear helmets!?)

That officially completes the “bad things happen in threes” theory for our house. Hallie’s tooth, Bennett’s foot, my head…it’s about to get boring around here.