Limitations or Opportunities?

It was around the year of 1953ish. Possibly summer.
She and her dad were crossing a thin current to get on the other side of the field and eventually get on the road to town. She had to get off to help to push the cart that got stuck. They were going to sell oats and potatoes.
She just remembered the sharp pain in her left leg but continue helping and finally the cart moved.
Once she got up again, she noticed that something was stuck in her shoe... Painful.
A nail had crossed the sole and went through the heel. She pulled the nail out and her foot could not stop bleeding. Finally, it did after putting a lot if pressure.
I don't know how she really endured it! The wound eventually closed but something hurt. Nobody believed her that it really hurt! Almost a year... Finally, she was taken to the hospital.
It turned out an internal infection was literally eating her flesh and it was becoming a matter of life and death. She had to remain in the hospital and chances were she was going to lose her leg. Amazingly, it did not happen! Her leg was operated and the doctors inserted the metal frame. But it would take a while for her to recover and learn to walk again. Almost another year went by, away from home.
And one day, her older sister walked in wearing a black dress and a black veil... Not good news. Their mother had passed away almost three months after giving birth to the last baby girl...
How many times did she cry in silence! Who could hear her screams? Who could comfort her?
When she was giving up, it was like suddenly got the strength and will to live... And she did it. She found in God the strength she was needing. Life was not going to be the same. That is why she used to say "Miracles always happen, we just have to allow them to happen".

This is my mom's story. In the words I remember she told me when she had that accident at 10ish years old. I remember her being unstoppable. Literally. She went to places that probably she never imagine one day to be. She did it for the purpose to help others and show them God's love.
Sometimes I remember her she would lose a bit of balance but her pose was admirable. The security machines at some buildings would continue beeping even after her purse was researched... "You will need to cut my leg then!" She would say while showing a bit of the flat looking shape leg. I used to caress that part and feel the hardness of what she had inside. Now that I think about it, and all what she did... I cannot reach her high level of endurance and faith... Honestly.
When we went to Chile, in 1990, my mother took me to her hometown and I was blessed to know the place where she was born and had spent her childhood until she was around 16 years old or so. She showed me also the current... it was still there, the water was so pristine, enchanting. I used to imagine like a magical place but I knew that for her it was the place where her pain started and changed the course of her life. The road was now in a different route. Her stories are the links to Chile that I keep alive in my memory, and that has more value for me than possessions.
I hope with this personal story, yourself don't give up if life is throwing lemons at you. Don't measure your limitations as blocked roads but as steps to go higher. Always onward!

For a version in Spanish of another story I wrote about her, please click here: https://peregrina777.blogspot.com/2007/04/la-fugitiva.html