Jadyn Dalrymple

My mom is publishing a book this month through BreckCreate. It is a beautiful collection of short stories and artwork from Middle School and High School students in Summit County. You can find it here on Amazon. My brother Isaac will have his Peregrine Falcon drawing in it. This is the short story that I wrote for the book. It is based on a true story, but not totally true.

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If I could change a day, I would change the day when my world collapsed, or so I thought it had. It was a cold, snowy day in November. Sure, I had thought that my life would change a little bit that day, but I never would have thought that when I climbed in the car that morning, it would change like it did.

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I sat in the car waiting. If my mom didn’t get in the car in two minutes, I would be late to one of most exciting days of the season – the first slopestyle competition this year.

“Sorry,” my mom said as she hurriedly scrambled into the car. She started the car, and we pulled out into the gloomy, snowy day. I stuck in my earbuds and looked out the window. It was about a forty minute drive, and I barely got any sleep the night before, so after a few minutes, I was fast asleep.

When we finally got there, my mom shook me awake.

Today was the day I had been training for all season. I wanted to win it all. I could feel it. I was going to do a trick that I had been practicing for months. And if I landed it, I could win the competition.

I came up to the jump. I prepared myself for the back 5, slight bend in the knees, ready to pop. Arms ready to throw the spin. And most importantly a focus to finish my trick perfectly. I went off the lip, popping as I went off. I spun, but I had thrown it so hard that I kept spinning. I over-rotated. I hit the snow.

I landed hard, hitting my shoulder and collarbone. I slid down the landing until I came to a stop. The pain in my collarbone was increasing by the second, and I stifled a little scream. I waited for what seemed like hours, not sure if I could get up. When I tried, the pain was too great, so I just lay there. Ski patrol came skiing over to me with the sled ready. They gently took off my snowboard and laid me in the sled. They rode down, and I caught a glimpse of my mother, quickly rushing down behind me, a look of worry on her face.

They rushed me to the hospital, and the doctors checked me out. Turns out I had broken my collarbone. Badly. They told me I would be out for 8 weeks. When they told me this, I could feel the tears, pushing at my eyes, wanting to spill out like Niagara Falls. I tried to hold them back, but I couldn’t. I weeped. Not because of the pain – that was manageable. No, I was weeping because of all the memories, and fun I would miss, and of course, most of all, I cried because of the practice and new tricks, that would be learned, without me.

I got into the car and looked out the window. Still snowing. I had sat in this same seat a few hours earlier. But there was a big difference between earlier and now. Then, I had been excited, and ready to put down my run. Now, I felt that my life was over.

I walked into my room and fell back onto my bed. Today had not been the day that I thought it would be. I tried to tell myself that lots of people had it a lot worse than me being out for 8 weeks from snowboarding. Most people didn’t even have the opportunity to snowboard. My mom helped me get on my pajamas. I was still crying a little. Even though I didn’t have it that bad, I was still very disappointed.

I woke up the next day forgetting what had happened the day before. But then I felt the pain in my collarbone, and it all came back to me. I got up and went downstairs. My mom and dad were down there, and I went and sat down with them.

“Hey,” my mom said. “I met this girl a few days ago, and I thought you might like her, so I set it up so you can meet her today if you feel ok.”

“I guess so,” I replied.

Who knows? Maybe making a new friend who didn’t snowboard would be good.

I walked into the coffee shop, and after a few minutes, I saw a girl and her mom crossing the street, and I knew that it was her. There was something about her that I just knew we’d be friends.

We stayed and talked in the coffee shop for an hour, and it turned out that we had a lot in common. I really liked her, and I was so happy to meet her. This new friend made having my broken collarbone a lot easier.

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So yes, if I could change a day, I would change the day that I broke my collarbone. But looking back, if it didn’t happen, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get to know my new friend or had as much time to spend with her that winter. If I hadn’t broken my collarbone, as bad as it seemed at the time, I wouldn’t be where I am with snowboarding right now. When I came back from my injury it took me a little bit of time to get over my fear of jumps and of ever doing a back 5 again, but after I got over that, I was stronger than ever and progressed like crazy.

About the Author

My name is Jadyn Dalrymple. I’m 12 years old, and I‘m in 6th grade. I love to snowboard, skateboard, rock climb, and play tennis. I have loved telling stories since I was very young. I also love to journal about my everyday life. This year, during early season of snowboarding, I broke my arm doing a front board on a rail. So this story is kind of based on that event.  Breaking my arm was a little setback in my season, but it didn’t mean my season was over. I managed to overcome this setback and ended getting 5th in Slopestyle at USASA Nationals.