Falling ... really?

Over the holiday weekend I fell on my butt twice. In the same day. In spectacular fashion.

This would not be a big deal if I did it while skating because, well, falling happens on the ice. But it happened OFF the ice, which is worse because the momentum of sliding on the ice tends to absorb the impact of a fall. Falls on gravel and wood don't have the same benefit.

Fall #1 happened while I was walking on the side of my house in the morning; a garden step broke when I stepped on it and I went straight down on my back on some gravel. The encore fall occurred in the evening when I slipped on a wood stair riser and fell down a couple of stairs in the house. And I wasn't even drinking.

I've never had a stair problem before, and even navigated stairs for several months on crutches without a single mishap.

I had been scheduled for a lesson on big ice with Coach I on the Cha Cha the next day. After fall #1 I took some Ibuprofen and felt a bit sore, but still planned to skate. After fall #2 I asked Perry to bring me the phone (as I sat in a heap at the bottom of the stairs) and called Coach from that position to explain that I would not be there in the morning.

I hit my left arm on the stair riser and it has a lovely bruise the size of a baseball. My back and hips hurt. I am trying not to whine. I had high hopes of skating a lot this week so I'll load up on Ibuprofen and I'll be at the rink tonight. Because in life, as in skating, you fall. The important thing is to get up and try again.