When Fall is not just a Season

Fall is a beautiful season.  The leaves are a vibrant red and gold, the air kissed with the first hint of coolness to come.  I had already taken my seasonal hayride to the pumpkin patch to find the great pumpkin, things were going my way.

Until I met up with a curb.

Fall took on a whole new meaning.

I don’t know what it is about me that makes my falling so comical.  Is it that i don’t put out my hands to break my fall?  Or the instinctual barrage of curses that I inevitably end up muttering up close and personal to the indifferent slab of pavement.

This particular October day had been good.  I had spent the day shopping with my sister while waiting for my other sister to fly in from the West coast.  The airport had been a two hour drive and a full day of mall shopping on top of that.  I was hungry, dehydrated and as usual, this is a familiar recipe for disaster.  I should have seen it coming.  But I didn’t.

While rushing from the airports parking lot, I was following my sister who was watching the plane in the sky wondering aloud if that was my sister’s flight which was about to land.

I have trouble discerning curbs when they are all the same gray color as the concrete and I fell flat on my face.

Yes, literally my face hit the concrete  Well my nose first and then my forehead.  I am sure if it had been caught on video, it would have gone viral.  Even I can laugh at how funny it must have looked.

My sister turned around to see me sprawled face down on the sidewalk, muffled, repeated, curses coming from somewhere underneath all of my hair.  She wondered why I wasn’t getting up.  All I can say is, when I fall like that my body seems to go into a stunned mode.

It takes my brain a minute to tell my body, “It’s okay, you can get up now”.

It was a little embarrassing when the airport security came running out with a first aid kit.  My nose was bleeding profusely, splattering large drops of bright red blood as a concerned bystander ran for an ice pack.  When I was able to talk,  the security guard asked me what had happened.

I said “I am legally blind and didn’t see the curb.  Maybe you should paint it yellow or something”.

He then proceeded to point out that a further two feet away, there was a brightly colored blue painted walk which clearly marked the way.

Should I have noticed that?  I am not sure.

My sister came off the airplane and found me in the womens bathroom washing the blood off of my hands, face and hair.  She gave me a warm hug, a smile and a laugh and the three sisters set off for what turned into a great week.

I am rethinking the seeing eye dog thing and am trying to train my body to “put your hands out dummy” when your about to do a nose dive.

Since then, I have had two stumbles but managed to land on my hands!

Life is good 😉

Cindy Lee

October 19, 2012