One Saturday, we drove to our favorite fruit market to get the last of our jams done. With an entire bushel and a half of freestone peaches and 15 quarts of fresh strawberries in the back of the truck, we'd stopped at a hardware store for a last-moment jar purchase. We were nearly sure we had enough jars for the jam, but this particular location always had the same style jar we use and a few more wouldn’t hurt.
It was a warm summer day and I was glad to be wearing my flip-flops and sunglasses as I looped the bags with jars around my left arm and slung my purse over my right. I strode out the door while The Awesome Boyfriend was somewhat ahead of me – readying to open the truck door to stash the last of our required supplies.
My right foot dragged? Or caught the edge of the concrete landing outside the doors? Or scuffed on *something* and I went down. The Awesome Boyfriend turned as he heard me but by the time he started back to help, I was already flat on the ground. My legs and knees were slightly bent to the left, my arms were on either side of my body (not ahead of me to break my fall), and my purse and the jars were, luckily, far away from my face. My chin was flat against the ground as I said my first word … “ow”. The second words were “oh crap the jars.” (No one can tell me I’m not focused on what’s important!)
My left knee got most of my weight so it bruised up nicely and my chin was, of course, quite blackened (and stayed that way for more than a week). My pride and bravado was what took the biggest hit and I know what The Awesome Boyfriend and I were both thinking as we walked slowly to the truck. Sure, I’ve ALWAYS been klutzy but … the connection was too easy to make. I didn’t start crying until my passenger door was closed … and it was the first time I think I shared exactly how scared I really was.
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And you would THINK that would be enough of a wake-up call, right? But when it really struck me was during a conversation I had with a dear friend I used to work with. He was helping me arrange for a birthday gift for my mom from a West-Coast artist and called on a Wednesday evening to say everything was under control and the piece (a painting) was nearly done. And then he said “hey – remember when we had lunch while you two were out here? Please don’t be upset … but I noticed something and it scared me and …” As it turned out, I wasn't as good at hiding my "personal earthquakes" as I thought I'd been.
His timing was incredible - my first appointment in meeting my new GP was the next morning.
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