My middle name ain't Grace... that's for sure.

I have taken pride in the fact that I survived one of the worst winters in northern Indiana history this year with no car accidents and no slips on the snow and ice.

Well, the pride was quickly squandered this morning when I wiped out in front of our apartment on bare concrete... BARE CONCRETE! No ice, no snow, no rain... just concrete. The first thing I did was throw out a few cuss words and then look around to see if anyone saw me (naturally). I didn't see anyone.... (sigh) thank goodness. Of course, I get up and continue walking to my car like nothing happened and grimace with pain from my ankle and knee the entire time. I have too much pride to stand there and assess my battle wounds where everyone can see them. So, I waited until I got to the car. A small scrap on my ankle, little scratch on my hand from catching my fall and a little skin on my knee (and my khaki pants don't look too good either). It could have been worse.

I have quite a history of nasty falls, some involving the over consumption of alcohol. One of the funniest was with Amanda in Independence, KS. We were going to the courthouse to present to the County Commissioners. We walk outside of one building on our way to the Judicial Center and of course, I am not paying attention to my surroundings (a lesson my dad has been drilling into me since I was just a wee tot... apparently he knew he had a grace-challenged child on his hands). Anyway, I was looking at the sign on the door of the building and completely miss the 2 steps in front of it. When I say I wiped out... I mean WIPED OUT! Amanda, of course, would not stop laughing and I was trying to decide whether to cry or laugh too. UGH... that hurt.

The one that left me limping the longest was from Arrowhead Stadium for the Pitt State/Northwest Missouri Game. Jeremy and I headed up there to meet all our friends. NOTE: This is one that involved alcohol, but also a super tall man with long legs that likes to skip. Anyway, we were leaving the game in a huge crowd of people and Jer grabbed my hand and we started skipping/running through the crowd. I'm sure you know what happened next. My short legs could not keep up with his long legs and his overly happy skipping routine. I went down on my left ankle HARD. I mean... WOW! I had never sprained my ankle before, but when I went down I knew that is what had happened. Of course, there were hundreds of people around and I think some girl started laughing and I spouted off at her. Stupid *itch. :) Even Jer started laughing at me, until he realized I was about in tears and then he said "are you ok?". Uh, does it look like I am ok? He kept telling me that I was fine, but when I whipped my ankle out for him to see while we ate dinner at Hooters he changed his tune. It was black and blue and swollen... yuck. So, the next time Jer wanted to skip (which is often... he likes to skip for some reason) I had to have a little chat with him about slowing down and realizing not everyone has massively long legs like he has. The next skipping events were without incident. Thank you Jer :)

Oh man... I could go on for days about my nasty falls. But I will spare you all the details. :)

Have a wonderful, graceful, day!