What if I Stumble, What if I Fall...

Okay, so this blog entry is a total rip off of Holly's "I've Fallen and Can't Get Up" blog but I thought it was such a funny idea for a blog post. Sorry to copy, Holly and Heather W. Anyway, I thought that I would share my top 5 falling moments, which will be a challenge for me to narrow down because anyone who knows me well knows that I am a total klutz all the time. It's okay, I get it from my mom. Most of our falls occur when we are wearing "stupid shoes" as my dad refers to them as; this includes sandals, flip flops, heels, basically anything other than athletic shoes or sturdy hiking boots. But, enough babbling, here is the list...

#5- I was thinking back to my falling moments and I realized that I don't have near as many as my mom (sorry, Mom, it is true), so I thought I would include one of hers and mine in my list. When I was in middle school, I decided to get roller blades. I was behind the times and had always used roller skates even though roller blades were available. When I finally decided to make the switch, I was so nervous about the brakes in the back that I bought a pair that had brakes in the front like roller skates do. I decided to go out and try them on the street, except that we lived on this giant hill and I was scared I would just go sailing down it and into a tree or something. So I convinced Mom to walk with me down the hill so I could have someone not on wheels to hold onto for balance. I inched my way down the hill sideways for the steep part and then thought that I would try to go for it. I should mention that I had on a helmet, wrist guards, elbow guards and knee guards and Mom had nothing. I turned my wheels forward and gravity did the rest. I started going too fast and fell to the ground, pulling Mom along with me. I was fine, really didn't feel a thing what with all my padding.Mom, however, had landed on hands and knees and had a badly scraped knee and torn pant leg. She may have had some rocks in her palms as well, I don't remember. I felt really bad but I still laughed. I didn't anticipate that we would both need full padding just to go out rollerblading. I think she is still a little bitter about that one.

#4- I was in elementary school, I don't remember what grade, and I had just gotten out of class at Westover. I was running down the hall, in anticipation of getting to the playground to play a while before my parents were ready to leave church. As I was running, one of the little boys who used to tease me stuck out his foot and tripped me. I went flying to the ground, just as one of the other classroom doors was opening. I ended up falling and hitting my head on the corner of the door. I had a cut on my forehead, although it must not have been too bad because I don't have any scars from it. One of the teachers picked me up and took me downstairs to see my parents. I was too young to really be embarrassed, I was more upset about the boy tripping me. Mean, mean boys.

#3- When I worked at Parkland, we used to have to change into hospital scrubs once we got to work. This was because our scrubs washed at home were not sterilized for the OR. So I used to come in every night in street clothes and I left a pair of shoes in my locker. Sometimes, in the summer I would wear flip-flops as this is my habit in the summertime. Every night when I would come in, I would walk through the ER waiting room in order to get to the elevator to L&D. One night, I was walking through and slipped on the freshly mopped floor. I fell flat on my butt in front of the whole ER waiting room, which at Parkland is enormous. I just kind of slinked upstairs and was glad that none of the same people would be there when I got off shift at 7 am. Since they mopped this floor regularly, I slipped on several other occasions, because why would I stop wearing my flip-flops with no tread to work? I got good though, I could do almost a full split when one foot would start to slide and then pop right back up to walking. It kind of looked like I was doing lunges through the ER.

#2- This incident didn't happen too long ago, it was right after we adopted Barley, our dog. I was out walking the disc golf course with Taylor and his friends, which I do sometimes because it is a nice walk. I had Barley on the leash and we were walking behind the boys off the tee. I tripped on some invisible root or stone and twisted my ankle and fell flat on my face. None of the boys noticed because they were ahead of us, but the people waiting to tee off did. One of the girls that was with them asked me if I was okay. I tried to stand up but my ankle was really hurting and I couldn't get up well. I got off my hands and knees and sat down to examine my ankle and the guy on the tee was like, "That's not going to work, you need to move". Well, excuse me for living!Sorry that I have fallen and broken my ankle in your drive line, let me just hobble over here. What a jerk. Meanwhile, Barley is just standing there staring at me like I am insane and pulling on the leash for us to catch up with the others. Taylor finally noticed that I wasn't there and came back looking for me. Of course, by this time I was embarrassed and feeling really stupid. When I get really embarrassed I tend to start crying, so that's what I did. Taylor helped me hobble off so that Mr. Marvelous was able to play through. My ankle was fine but it was definitely tender for a few days. Taylor says I need to start wearing hiking boots to come disc golfing with him because this was just one of many falls and he gets irritated when I hurt myself. He is better than my dad though, he usually just walks away or says, "What are you doing?" to my mom.

#1- This was the worst incident of me falling that I can remember. I already talked about this one a little on Holly's post, but I will elaborate. When I was in middle school, we lived in Portland, Oregon and I got a little into the way that people dressed there in the 90s. Yes, folks, I was into grunge. It was a sad time looking back now, but what can you do. So my basic wardrobe was a huge (like 2XLT) shirt tucked in just barely to short jean shorts with socks and Birkenstocks. Oh, and I can't forget my flannel shirt over my huge t-shirt. Man, I was sexy! Anyway, one day after class, I was running late so I decided to run to the car instead of walk. Of course, because I have on the stupidest outfit ever, I tripped on nothing and fell flat on my face since I was holding books and couldn't catch myself. I had a very badly scraped knee which began oozing blood down my leg and a big scrape near my elbow, also drippy. Did I mention that I fell in front of all the school buses as they were waiting to take all the other middle schoolers home? It was super. I thought I was going to be able to stick my head down and WALK swiftly to the car until one of my friends leaned out the bus window and yelled, "SAMANTHA, ARE YOU OKAY?" So embarrassing! I am sure that she was just trying to be nice, but have a little common sense, I wanted to remain anonymous in my little fall. After that, I just waved to my friend and hobbled off toward the car. Mom was sympathetic to my embarrassment, though, so that helped.

I hope you all enjoyed my falling stories, please feel free and share some of yours in the comments section (Mom, that means you!). Falling is awful and awkward, but almost always funny to someone!