fall on your knees

it is not metaphorical, poetic or contemplative, in this case, this i where i met dirt. amidst the earth, rain and trees for miles, i fell hard on my knees. it happened in an instant. i’m not sure how it all went wrong, but i have a few reminders.

mentally i was congratulating myself, feeling strong and thinking about the next few kilometres. my feet were taking me home. suddenly i felt the heaviness of my body on my hands and i could sense and smell the cold, wet and rocky earth.  parts of my body stopped hard, while others propelled  forward. the knock on my knees and the sting of skin shocked me.  i realized more than felt, i was on the ground.

i pulled my body into me and put my head between my legs. every ounce of my being was focused on not fainting as i have a bit of a problem in that department. my hands burned but i clenched them to my sides not daring to look.  if i saw blood, surely i would pass out.  i did not want to wake to the skid of a mountain bike bumping over my body.

after a few seconds or perhaps moments i pulled my stunned, shocked and shamed body to stand. tentatively i stepped forward hands fisted and put one foot in front of the other. thankfully my body still worked…as did my phone. 10 minutes later i was picked up and homeward bound. my husband said little, he made sure i was ok and then assessed my hands and knees and sent me off to shower and change. a short while later i was resting on the couch…medicated, elevated, iced and bandaged–this all felt vaguely familiar to me.

rewind 1 week- sunday, june 10. at 9:15am i got the call to pick-up my husband and his broken bike. yes, it was the same side of the mountain i had just fallen on–different trail!  20 minutes post pick-up we were in emergency and he was on a straight board with a serious neck-brace. 4 hours later he was released–back not broken–vertebrae ok–but most likely sporting a couple of cracked ribs (thank you inconclusive x-ray).

Not how it should look

now, don’t we sound like a couple of clumsies?  maybe, but instead i am going to chalk it up to getting outside and moving. i remember when we were kids, we wore our band aids like badges. they told a story, and reminded us of the fun we had. now as adults i have a few white lines(some call them scars) but i think of them as stories, they are reminders of moments where i did something brave, heroic or maybe just a little silly.   as kids we played with abandon, we ran, jumped, swung from ropes, balanced and bailed.  scrapes and scuffs were part of the territory. i still get the scrapes but not as many badges. this weekend my son made sure i was covered, he got me a band-aid from his special supply. and you know what, it worked it felt a better.

Ouch

so despite us being older in age, sometimes, just sometimes “we are always the same age inside” (Gertrude Stein).  we may not be aging gracefully, we may be fighting it one topple at a time but i don’t think i’d have it any other way. i don’t have it all figured out, i have much to learn but i think Newton was onto something with his laws of motion.

a body in motion tends to stay in motion……and a body at rests tends to stay at rest.

i’m all for motion…how about you?