Falling Down: How to Do a Shoulder Check

Have you ever noticed that when you fall even if you are in pain you will immediately jump back up and look around to see how many witnesses there were to your tumble weed act? I have stopped bothering to do so however, because it seems that no matter where I am when I fall someone always sees.

Observe:

Five years ago during my walk to work in the winter I hit a patch of black ice, slipped and landed in a half prayer/half proposal formation. With one knee on the ground and the other bent and both arms raised in the air I finally caught my balance. Just as I felt sturdy enough to get up a man on a bicycle (I know right) rides by/around me and says “Your purse broke.” I look down and sure enough, the plastic harness had snapped leaving me with no strap on my purse. The man on the bicycle rides off into the distance unscathed. Frown.

Four years ago two of my friends moved out together for the first time and wanted to go to Sears to look at appliances. I was half way down the down escalator, my friend Dave calls out “Wait Amy, come back.” and then disappeared around a corner to follow Cassie. Rather than wait until I was all the way down and take the up escalator I opted to attempt a run back up the down escalator. Dave had come back by this point to see where I was and thought that my idea was fun. So he encouraged me by saying “You can do it!” This resulted in me almost making it and then I missed a step. I came crashing down on one knee and ended up back where I started. Dave winced as he heard the sound of my knee cap hitting the metal grating of the steps. I refused to give in. I tried again (….I didn’t say I was smart). I made it up this time. Victory was mine! “Okay let’s go.” Dave said as he hops on the down escalator with Cassie in tow. Frown.

This year, the Cafeteria had Taco Salad Bowls. Brenda was the first to wander by with her delicious smelling food. I took one look at the dish and ran downstairs to get myself one. I came back up to my desk to eat my exciting lunch…except I had also attracted some attention while carrying it back. Adria and Claire were equally pleased with the selection of a Taco Salad. Adria motions for me to come over to her desk. Perched on the edge of my chair I started to roll myself over using my feet while holding out the Taco Salad so Adria could see it. At that exact moment Cam & Corey are in Cam’s pod talking to one another – and both of them see my chair flip forward, dump me out and hit me on the top of the head as I landed on my knees holding the Taco Salad out – as if presenting it to royalty. Corey’s eyes widened and he quickly maneuvered back to his desk pretending he had not just seen me do that. Cam makes a face and turns away from me as well. Claire & Adria are not so diplomatic. They burst out in laugher AND THEN ask if I am okay. Frown.