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Ice Encounters

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Contributed by: Christin Terrell on 2/6/2008

Column: The Girl with the Crutches
By: Christin Terrell
Everyone slips on the ice, countless times making desperate awkward-looking poses to save themselves from a bruise. The problem for me is crutches mean no traction, which means when I start going down, there's no going back!

I have an amazing talent for finding ice where it seems to be entirely clear. A perfect example of this happened this last winter.

I walked inside the high school, and, after just one fall when hitting the hardwood floor in the commons of the school, I made it to my nice carpeted classroom. However, the class had to walk to the auditorium right after the teacher took attendance. I started back onto the petrifying slippery floor and fell again, shortly after beginning my journey. My teacher was walking behind me and saw me hit the ground. She watched me struggle to get back up and eloquently informed me "it's not slippery." Well, that was nice of her to let me know, but I thought I would be a better judge of that seeing as how I was the one on the ground thanks to a giant puddle.

Having absolutely no traction rears its ugly head again when I attempt to get up. When I fall down, I want to get up as fast as possible and pretend no one noticed. So, when it is a lost cause trying to gain balance atop an iceberg for upwards of five minutes, it get a tiny bit frustrating because people usually notice.

I typically find myself scooting over to the nearest wall and anchoring my crutch against the bottom of the wall. I'm not afraid of falling, I'm actually quite accustomed to it; this ten minute process ending in a hip bruise is simply inconvenient.

Plus, minor injuries aren't even the real reason I hate falling. The real reason is because people never know how to react. They either run to help and pick me up, which is uncomfortable on many levels but I know they mean well, or they stare, smirk, and continue walking. Although it may be rude, I usually prefer the latter. I have learned to cope either way, and I've learned what works for me and what doesn't.

What everyone needs to learn is this: cope with what you have. The whole purpose of this column is NOT to gain sympathy, I hate getting sympathy. This is simply a bump in my road; I just find ways to get over it. My "ice encounters" can serve as a metaphor, I always get back up-usually as quickly as possible. Everyone makes a choice when they fall down in life. You can either become content with staring at the ground, or jump back up and continue on...even if you end up embarrassed and bruised along the way. Life will happen, even if you sit back and watch, so you may as well make the best of it. That's a hideous cliché, but it's true.

So, the next time you encounter your own icy patch on the sidewalk, just break into a random dance move, smile, and continue walking.

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Submitted By: Karin Malchow

posted on 2/7/2008 @ 5:31:40 PM

Rated Story

I am glad to know I am not the only one to always find the slippery patch. Also, I'm good at locating dog doo.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Christin Terrell

Frederick , CO

Christin Terrell has posted 3 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/30/2007. Christin Terrell 's average story rating is 5.

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