$6,711.75

Christmas of 2006, one of us, who may be me, had the bright idea of ordering skates from the L. L. Bean catalog for Santa to deliver on Christmas Eve. Since the weather was warm and the outdoor rink at Centennial Lakes didn't open till January 12th, we made sure we were there that day to initiate the new skates. One year ago today.

Unfortunately, I chose to use my old, rusty, 1964 leather figure skates. The ice was perfect, fast, and smooth, due to no snow, cold temps, and no previous skaters. We enjoyed 20 minutes of great skating on the lake just outside of The Macaroni Grill.

Then, we started practicing the hockey stop. I was doing pretty good and thought I'd do one more stop. Unfortunately, when I turned sideways, my edge didn't catch, and the laws of physics took over...I'm remembering something about an object in motion tending to stay in motion...and I became a living physics experiment.

I fell. The wrist was broken. I didn't even have to take off my glove and pull up my sleeve. I knew it was broken. We were two blocks south of the warming house and Mr. D took my right arm, Chris grabbed my left elbow, I held my wrist and they skated me back to the warming house.

I grabbed the Rachel Ray magazine that I had brought along just in case I got tired of skating. It made a handy, impromptu splint when wrapped around my wrist. Chris remained with Kate, Tim, and Beth to continue their skating adventure. Terry took me to the ER at Fairview Hospital to proceed with our adventure.

Long story short. Bad break. Cast not enough. Surgery on the 19th. Several months of hand therapy. Wrist that now works pretty good. $5,700 deductible.

Two weeks after this adventure, we were in the car and my tongue innocently went to where my lower left molar used to be. Half of it was gone. We don't have dental insurance. I went to the dentist who put on a temporary filling that lasted 10 days. Since it didn't hurt, I just lived with it till this week and went in for a crown.

So, in the last year, the cost of repair on me has been $6,711.75. I would like to thank Mr. D for not trading me in for a newer model requiring less upkeep.