I have always loved being adventurous – climbing trees and riding horses and bikes, for example. Although I love being outdoors and thinking I am invincible, I have always been very accident prone.

I sprained my ankle in a soccer game when I was 10 years old, broke my arm by falling off a set of bleachers in sixth grade, fractured my ankle on a trampoline in seventh grade, and that is just as a glimpse into my life of hospital runs and lots of x-ray machines.

As kids, we all thought we were invincible and could never get hurt by anything in this world. But, as we started to grow, we began to see that we are anything but invincible. Bones would break, people wouldn’t turn out to be who you originally thought, and on and on. 

This past week, I still thought I was invincible, but my mom assured me otherwise. As we were about to leave for a bike ride, I asked if I really had to wear a helmet. Of course, she said I did, and thank goodness for that.

As we were finishing up our 5-mile bike ride of zooming fast down hills and going into high gear while we biked up others, we approached the street leading up to ours. I was about to turn onto my street when I saw a car at the stop sign. I put my arm out to signal to the car that we were turning, and I must have lost balance and pulled the front brake with my hand that was still on the handle bars. I flipped over the handle bars and the bike landed on me. I don’t remember much besides seeing the bike falling on top of me and then sitting up and starting to freak out.

I knew something was wrong as soon as I sat up. My arms and whole body started to ache. My mom, dad, and I headed to the ER and that’s when the night really began. For 5 and 1/2 hours we waited for the diagnosis. After many x-rays, bathroom trips, and nurses in and out, the doctor said I had broken both of my elbows.

Every time I was approached from the time I walked into the ER to even now, everyone’s first question after I explain what had happened, is “were you wearing a helmet?”. I say “yes”, and I could not be more thankful that I did. Broken elbows seem like nothing when I think about the idea of seriously injuring my head.

So, to the girl who thinks she is invincible, you aren’t. It is really that simple. Whether your story be that dramatic or something smaller, know that we as humans can be so easily hurt. Stay safe, always wear a helmet, drive with two hands, don’t text and drive, and everything we have been told a million times over. But really, be safe, because I am the first to say I always thought nothing like this would ever happen to me, but here I am at the start of a new summer, waiting for my elbows to heal.