Wednesday, September 06, 2006

I'm clumsy (not just lazy!)

I know, I know: it's been a while since I have blogged. That wouldn't be such a big deal (I'm sure it's not a record or anything) if I didn't have so much to blog about: with photos and details from our vacation to post, as well as a couple of things about July and August's visits with Cyndi, I'm way behind. I do promise to catch up SOON though! Really!!

Yesterday I discovered that it isn't just laziness that has kept me from getting anything done around here lately, it's also clumsiness. Yes, I know--I've been clumsy for a while now--it's nothing new. I have problems with any shoes that boast even a centimeter of a heel, and even without heels, I manage to have problems most anywhere I walk: tripping here, falling a bit there. You get the idea. But somehow, despite almost four years of cobblestone-street and medieval hilltown living, I have avoided any serious missteps, and I've managed to keep my balance when it mattered most.

That was until Saturday when I fell down the stairs. Okay, there were only three stairs, and I was actually quite lucky because I landed on a rug, so my knee was just a little scraped up. But it was weird--I didn't expect to fall so far, and, despite my normal clumsiness, this was a near-serious tumble. I brushed myself off, and Antonello and I continued down the rest of the stairs, this time with me holding his arm like a crutch.

But then it all happened again. Yesterday, coming back from a trip to the beach, I was walking home down the long hill of a sidewalk to my house and smiling about how I had actually gotten a bit of sun today (last week at the beach, I braved the cold winds in my swimsuit for that smidgeon of sunshine, and for nothing: no tan at all) and listening to my ipod. I was just walking, like any normal person, trying again to prove that I can listen to music and walk at the same time (a learned skill). In my head I was organizing the plans for the day--get home and cook lunch, bake cookies for that night's caving meeting, go to my English lesson, go straight to the park to run--and I looked forward to a busy afternoon.

And then it happened. I don't even know how, but as I was stepping from the edge of the curb onto the driveway beside it, I completely lost it and fell, my beach bag tumbling ahead of me, my foot making a weird 'pop' noise, my other knee (not the scraped-up one) purposefully deciding to scratch itself up so I'd have nice, matching, scratched-up legs, my dignity completely vanishing before my eyes. No one seemed to be passing by on foot at the moment (or at least I heard no laughter or offers to help), so I grabbed my bag, scooped myself up, and limped on home. I felt like an idiot, but somehow I made it up those stairs and into my house.

And I'm still here, in the apartment, not much able to move. It's day two, and the foot is starting to feel better. We're pretty sure it's not broken, but it's swelled up quite a bit. So there you have it--my laziness can only be outdone by my clumsiness. But I will blog more soon...really!

-Jackie