On the DL

When you're injured they say that you're on the 'DL.'  I'm not exactly sure why they use that expression.  I always thought that DL stood for 'Down Low' as in closeted gay men.  Maybe it also means something else.  Maybe there's some way in which being injured is analagous to being a closeted gay man.  I'll have to ask.  At any rate, the injury has sent me on a bit of an emotional ride that might run unchecked except for some very kind words and actions on the part of my team and league mates.  I'm not sure that they even know that they're doing me a favor. 
I was feeling pretty down when I walked into the first league practice where I couldn't skate.  I really like league practices.  When I got there I needed to return the crutch I had borrowed and as I walked it over several people stopped me, wanting to know what was wrong.  When I told them, I got the following responses:
"Oh yeah, dashboard knee right?"
"That's what [names three skaters] braces are for."
"I don't have a PCL."
"I don't have a PCL either,  you don't need it.  Welcome to the no PCL club!"
I immediately felt better.  If some of the best skaters in our league have made it through this injury and can continue to skate the way they do then I'll be alright.  It's also nice to know that there are a lot of people out on the floor who know what I'm going through and aren't going to judge me too harshly if I'm not back at 100% right away.
For our following weekend practices I was relegated to watching.  I hate watching.  It's a little devestating to see your teammates whizzing by and rocking drills when all you can do is stand in the middle of the derby ring and rotate.  I was feeling ever more invisible when our guest coach did a small but wonderful thing. 
"Hey Slater, why don't you tell people when to go?"
They didn't actually need me to tell them when to go, but suddenly I wasn't invisible anymore.  It made the rest of the day better.
Finally, after having been cleared to skate last week I had my first practices back this weekend.  I'm no contact and it's still sensitive so there's still a lot I can't do.  There were a lot of highs and lows, not the least of which was an unexpected spasm of pain that acutally made me cry out while we stretched at the end of practice on Sunday.  How am I going to be cleared for contact anytime soon if I can't even kneel on it? If this isn't good to go in two weeks I won't be eligible for draft and it will be August before I'm on a team.  It was then that one of the league skaters who works with us smiled at me and said, "it's nice to see you on skates again."  She was the third person to say it and it was the third time it made my world feel appreciably lighter.
"It's nice to be on skates again."
(Hey, that reminds me.  Click HERE to be a winner.)
<posted on 4.9.12>