Spending your day sledding is a dream come true for plenty of people, but to others it can become a nightmare. There are no difficult obstacles or rules, there are however, injuries. I’m fortunate enough to always end the day sledding with a tragic story of ruined limbs. So, believe me when I say, sledding can be dangerous!

I have never been an outgoing young girl. I preferred to spend time playing in snow instead of pushing my physical and mental boundaries like other little kids. I always admired my brother and wished someday to be brave like him, and fortunately I ended up getting that chance. My best friend’s brother was having his birthday party out at Kennedy so all of his friends could go sledding. He was about five years older than me which means there were plenty of older kids hanging around the hill that day. My friend had invited my brother and I to come along so we could all play together while the big kids did the same. Like the smart cookie I was, I dragged my little sled along the hill to a less crowded area to avoid hitting someone on the way down. We ended up on the far left side staring down at several trees. My brother jumped on his sled and took off without a second thought, so my friend and I had to do the same. We crawled into my sled with her in front, because I was too afraid of the front. Several seconds after pushing off the sled did a one hundred and eighty degree turn leaving us facing backwards. The last thing I remember was a shot of pain in my ankle and just like that I was out. I opened my eyes after what seemed like a millisecond to a group of strangers standing over me with goggles and coats on. Everyone was asking if I was alright and I believed I was because nothing on my body hurt yet. I tried to get up and a shooting pain sliced up my leg causing me to tumble back down. My mother and brother pulled me up the hill and drove me to the hospital where I discovered I had broken my ankle. It was my first time sledding and I was ready to call it quits forever.

I made it ten years without returning to Kennedy to go sledding and was completely at peace with this. However, this Christmas break I had been dying to go sledding, so when my friend, Lauren, texted me about going I was all for it. She picked me up and off we went with the boys and Lauren’s little sister, Amanda. Things started off nicely. We went down twice on the sled and were starting to have fun! I relaxed more and used something Lauren had brought that looked like a snowboard with a handle bar in front. We were all laughing at how funny it was to use until Lauren made the bold move to try it. We wished her luck and watched her very carefully. The whole way down she was going crooked and eventually just tipped over and landed on the snow. We didn’t think anything of it so we all giggled and waited for her to come back up the hill. Her wrist was in excruciating pain and we decided to call it quits for the day. We found out later that day that she had fractured her growth plate and would have to wear a cast. The curse had struck again and forever ended my Kennedy sledding career.

The few times that I have gone sledding it’s been a great time, so if you want to go you can be sure to include my sled and I. If you plan on going to Kennedy, however, feel free to leave me out. Kennedy has me cursed and for your own safety, stay away from us.