Six word memoir meme

I was tagged by Tristi to do this meme (which was started by Bookbaby) the other day. How do I some up my life in six words? It took some serious thought, and what I came up with might be more of a personal mantra than a memoir, but I’m choosing to not distinguish between the two.

Here are the rules:

1. Write your own six-word memior.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
3. Link it to the person who tagged you and to the place of origin.
4. Tag five more bloggers, with links.
5. Leave them a comment and invite them to play.

My memoir/mantra is:

“When you fall, get back up.”

This phrase has multiple applications for me. I’m sure that most are not as clumsy and accident prone as I am. The phrase accurately describes my tendencies to injure myself. If you were reading my blog earlier this month, then you’re aware that I recently broke both of my elbows. Most people would be satisfied with breaking just one limb; I’m not one of them.

In addition to the elbows, I tore the ACL in my left knee. I’ve torn the meniscus in my right knee, and then re-injured that when I broke the elbows. That takes care of all four major limbs, but I’m not done yet. I suffered three compression fractures in my back several years ago, and when they performed the x-ray on my back, they noticed that it was the second time I had broken it. Looking back over my life, the first time I broke it, must’ve been when I raced my daughter down a hill on rollerblades, a colossally bad idea on my part.

So now I’ve accounted for all four limbs and the main body part that holds them together, but I still have more. I broke my left hand pole vaulting in high school, but with the possible exception of breaking my elbows, the most dramatic injury I’ve suffered is when I took the nose of my surfboard in my right eye. I probably missed being killed on that one by about ¼ inch. You can read about that incident, The Saviors Love and the Sissy-Stick, here.

By the time that this life is over I will definitely have gotten my money’s worth out of this body, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was looking forward to the resurrection and getting rid of my aches and pains.

Dual application for my memoir/mantra can be found in my spiritual life as well. Like everyone else currently living in mortality, I haven’t reached a state of perfection. I like to focus on the getting back up part after falling short of perfection.

I am now supposed to tag five others. The last time I received a blogging award with the same instructions most that I past it onto did not comply with the instructions. So, I’m going to cheat a little myself and pass it onto one person, and hope that my niece, Christina will pass it on.