When we hear hoof beats we are supposed to think horses & not zebras. When we hear a knock at our door we are supposed to think mail man & not ax murderer. And when we get a Charlie horse in our legs we are supposed to think dehydration & not flesh eating bacteria. Yet, sometimes when you endure hard stuff or are forced to climb a gigantic mountain, whatever it may be, that’s what happens. You think of the bad before the normal. Because we have witnessed our wildest nightmares come true. Actually, I wouldn’t even say nightmares because that means the thought has crossed our mind at some point. We are aware of its possibility. Might not have been in a good way, but still present nonetheless. But these things have not. Their existence was unknown to us. And then bam. Suddenly it’s a reality that consumes us. We now know all sorts of crazy facts about this thing and we can pronounce it’s correct 30 word medical name. We start unconsciously avoiding certain roadways even though it’s the shortest path to get you from Point A to Point B because that 5 minutes you were trying to save cost you your normalcy one day. And that’s why we think Zebras instead of horses. Because in our experience, anything can happen.

I want to know how many of you reading this right now have been baffled by an unbelievable turn of events in your own lives? Come on now, be honest. Think about the exact moment that you were faced with whatever mountain & recall your first few thoughts. Were you thinking mail man or ax murderer? If I had to answer honestly about my own mountains, I would tell you I had absolutely no idea that what occurred could happen. Especially to me. Because I was me. Even as I was laying in an ER bed getting round the clock pain meds & having Careflight called in, Zebras still didn’t cross my mind. I was thinking IV antibiotics, not amputation. Because I was me & really hard and scary things didn’t happen to me. But in reality, it can & it does. It can happen to anyone. Hard stuff doesn’t discriminate. You could do every single thing right & be as healthy as a horse & still lose a leg. Ask any of my amp friends. And they will all say the same thing. Pre amp? Horses. Post amp? Zebras. Because we know that Zebras do exist.

You will find that after you finally make it to the other side of your mountain that unknown is not unnatural. Actually, it’s pretty much a constant. We face every single day not knowing what could happen. And we go to bed every single night praying tomorrow is a good day. We could get fired today or we could get a promotion. We could win $100,000 on scratch offs or we could find out that we just basically threw away $30 by investing in losers. But any which way, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. And the only way to prepare for the unknown is to be ready for zebras even though there’s pretty good odds that you’ll be seeing horses. If I was a betting woman, I’d always bet on the horses winning but I’d never go all in. Because it just takes that one time for the hoof beats to be zebras for you to lose it all. So proceed, but proceed with caution. Give everything your all but don’t bet your savings. Always have a Plan B, an emergency stash. Because you’d hate to get trampled & not be able to recover

#TheOneLeggedMommy #HoofBeats #Horses #Zebras #Amputee #AnythingCanHappen #ThursdayThoughts #NecrotizingFasciitis #ProceedWithCaution #HipDisarticulation #NecrotizingFasciitis #Awareness