I Admit It!

I am a klutz!

I’d been at my desk all morning so I decided to take a walk at lunch.  It was a beautiful day and I didn’t want to miss out on all of it.  Off I went, stepping lively, enjoying the fresh air.  The plan was to go three blocks up the hill, two blocks to the right, back down the hill and to the right again, taking me past the fresh baked cookie store with enough time to spare to stop in and snag one. 

All was well until I made the corner and started downhill. There was construction on the building in the first block and scaffolding I had to walk under.  Being me, I was

curious, looking around instead of paying attention to where I was going.

I know better.  I know how bad and uneven the sidewalks in Reading are.  I really do.  But I was being nosy and the universe noticed.  I tripped over an unexpected ledge.  Down I went, flat on my face.  As soon as I felt my foot hit the ridge I knew I was falling.  Not a damn thing I could do to prevent it either.

Have you ever done that?  Time shifts and everything in the next few seconds occurs in slow motion.  Falling was not good.  It hurts, landing in a thud like that.  Bad enough doing something so klutzy on my own but today there was a woman coming toward me.  She was close enough that we’d already made eye contact and smiled the second before I went down.  You should have seen the look on her face.  Priceless.  Funny how time slowed while my mind sped up.  I cursed because I was falling, realized there was no way to prevent it and watched her watching me, attempting to catch me even though she was still too far away all in the half a second it took me to land.

The woman was very kind, picking me up off the ground, dusting me off, making sure I was okay and didn’t need an ambulance.  Other than being embarrassed and bruised I’m fine though I suspect I will be very sore tomorrow.  Honestly I think she was much more flustered by it than I was.

I did stop at the cookie store where the always extremely nice woman noticed me checking to ensure my hand wasn’t broken.  Do you know how much it hurts to land with all your weight on the side of one little hand?  I told her what had happened.  Yes, I am capable of making fun of myself when I do something dumb.  She was so sweet!  She gave me a bag of ice for my hand and a pack of Red Hots to make me feel better.

So yes, I am a klutz.  But being a klutz today showed me that there are still nice people around who are willing to go out of their way to help a stranger and that is a very good thing.

Note to self:  Watch where you’re going at all times!