This is Going to Leave a Mark

I wear several physical reminders of past wounds--most of them on my face. Spots under my nose and on my chin show where asphalt dug deep during a biking accident my freshman year in college. The same wreck left a jagged line in my right eyebrow. I can tongue the lump inside my left cheek where I had stitches in fourth grade (after a well-placed kick pressed soft cheek flesh into my teeth and the pool clouded red with mouth blood). There's a small divot under my chin where I landed chin-first after jumping from a mattress when I was four.

Even my collarbone is crooked, broken when I was born.

Aimee, while having several sinus surgeries in the time I knew her, carried most scars in silence--or defiance. She had near-constant back pain from an accident in college. She developed neuropathy in her right wrist while clicking away on a mouse as a counselor at Free State. None of these things slowed her down. Aimee was stubborn--defiant--and bold. She thought she could conquer anything.

She always climbed into the middle of mountain streams to sit on a rock during our many hikes. I always told her to be careful--worried she would slip and fall on the smooth, mossy rocks. She never did.

And I was the one with scars... Funny how life works.

I have new scars now, the kind which don't show on my face. Aimee left them, and I won't trade them for anything.

For the multimedia inclined, take this message to heart:

To conclude, in the immortal words of Captain Lance Murdoch (from The Simpsons)"

It's always good to see young people taking an interest in danger. Now a lot of people are going to be telling you you're crazy, and maybe they're right. But the fact of the matter is: Bones heal. Chicks dig scars. And the United States of America has the best doctor-to-daredevil ratio in the world! --

...upon hearing that Bart wants to do a dangerous stunt, ``Bart the Daredevil''