Gimpy's adventure

This past Saturday I had made plans to go to the football match at the Meadowlands with a friend. Just to clarify, I am talking football, proper football - the type you play with your feet, not American "football". Yes, I could call it soccer since that is what they do in America but regardless of all my friends that pick on me, I will still call it football, because that is what it is. I'm a bit stubborn, but that is the least of my worries.

My friend had an extra ticket for the Red Bulls vs. Galaxy match. I've never been to a live, professional match before so I was excited. All that excitement was tempered with the logistics of getting myself there. Once I got into the match I would be seated, but there was to be a tailgate first - that was a whole new experience for me too. My friend assured me there wouldn't be too much walking, but at the tailgate there is really no place to sit. That concerned me more than anything. 3 hours at least of standing made me start to hurt even before it was Saturday.

Friday after work I stopped off at BB&B to see if they had a cheapish folding chair. They didn't. I did find one by the exit, but it was too heavy to carry, so I was still stressing that night. Thankfully Saturday morning I found a folding chair that came in a bag and it was not very heavy. Sold! I felt much better after getting the chair, knowing I could sit as long as I needed.

I then dropped the chair off at my flat and went to go pick up a sandwich. I live in the city, and went to a place one block away figuring it was close, so I wouldn't be stressing my leg out. Not so much! By the time I arrived at the store I was limping. This did not give me faith for the rest of the day at all. I had already put some lidoderm patches on the hip and then iced it when I returned home. I iced and iced to no avail. I was meeting my friend at the subway station near me. It was extremely nice of her to come up there as she lives further downtown, and that was the way we were heading. I find it very difficult to ask for help and feel overwhelmed when it is given. I must say I am very fortunate with my friends that go out of there way for me.

We met up at the station and then went the bar where they were chartering a couple of buses and headed out to the stadium. I won't even enter into how daft our driver was, other than - how hard is it to locate the Lincoln tunnel? Seriously! Signs are EVERYWHERE!!! But I digress.

I was trying to keep a low profile on the bus regarding the hip but once we got off and I was limping it was hard to keep it a secret. There were very nice people whom I had just met that helped me, my chair and food get to the tailgate, which was thankfully not too far from where the bus parked. (Who knew lot 14 was next to lot 18 at the Meadowlands???)

Invariably when one is sitting and everyone else is standing it becomes awkward. First because you feel like you're not hanging out with everyone - you can't go stick a chair in the middle of a group of standing people, and secondly because it becomes an issue to others why you are sitting. Think of it as "inquisitive minds want to know". No matter how long I try to hold off, it always seems to come out that yes, I've a bad hip, and once that is mentioned, all the other questions seem to appear (did you injure it, no, how did it happen then, what type of surgery, etc). I try to take it in stride as it will only get worse once I've had the surgery and get the crutches and wear the brace on. I've been through this before w/ my hand surgeries. You'd truly be amazed at the idiotic things people say when you have a cast on your arm. I suppose they think they're being clever, but trust me, they're not.

Many of the guys at the tailgate were very sweet and helped me carry my items to the stadium. The stadium workers and their rules were another nightmare. I truly don't know where they come up with some of them but they seem ludicrous. They wouldn't let me carry in my chair, that was folded and in a canvas bag, but they let people bring in large drums and various percussion instruments. They claimed the chair could be used as a weapon - how is that different from the large brass instruments? They wouldn't let you bring in water with a cap on it either. (I took the cap off and put it in my pocket, the guard saw me, but I gave him a look like, go on, just try it - and he let me go. But that was because he and his buddy had given us a hard time with the chair, so I think he realised I was at the end of my tether.) My fabulous friend went all the way over to another gate and checked the chair for me. If we had to leave it out there it wouldn't have been the worst thing, but I greatly appreciate her doing that. Not only did she take the chair, she did not let me go with her. She had one of her friends take me inside, and then after the game she went to pick up the chair, again sans me, and had another friend make sure I made it to the bus. I am usually the super-organised-never-gets-lost girl, but when you feel like crap and are a gimp, it's amazing how much it lowers your self-esteem, confidence and the sort.

In closing I am glad I was able to go to the game, it was a lot of fun, and I hope to go to more when I'm no longer a gimp (hopefully that will not be too far off, please G-d!) But I also want to thank my friend and all of her friends for helping me make it through the day's events. I could not have done it alone.