I’m calling it "The Incident".

Under no circumstances should anyone call it a fall, a crash, or stupidity. From now on, we refer to it as “The Incident”, ‘k?

Unfortunately, “The Incident” occurred when I was taking Kid #1 to baseball practice last evening. We were running a little behind schedule because of dentist appointments and a rushed dinner, so we decided to bike to the park instead of walking. Sounds like a plan, right? I wanted to get a little writing done while hanging out in the sunshine, so I slung a folding sling chair over my back and hopped on Paul’s bike. (Mine had a flat. Or two.)  I didn’t bother lowering the seat a couple inches , because it was only a 5 minute trip. Then I realized it wouldn’t be safe to have him carrying his own baseball bag while riding his bike, so I slung it cross-ways over my other shoulder.

Can you see where this is going? Can you believe I didn’t?

Sure it was a little sketchy until I got the bags adjusted properly, but soon we were on our way.   All was well until we reached the last little hill leading into the park.   About 2 feet before the crest of the hill, he started getting wobbly and though I tried to slow down, I tapped his back wheel with my front one, causing me to lose my balance. At the very same time, both bags swung to my right side, and the force was enough to send me over. If I hadn’t had the bags, I probably could have recovered, but instead, I put my foot down to catch myself.

Wouldn’t you know it, I put my foot down right onto the edge of the bike path.

POP! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! Down I went in a not-so-graceful heap of bike, bags, and twisted limbs. Luckily there were a few teams practicing next to me, and a couple nice coaches helped me over to a picnic table, gave me some ice, and loaned me a cell phone to call home for some transportation. We decided to go ahead and let Kid #1practice, then called my brother to come over for child-watching reinforcements and bedtime duty while we went to the ER.

The place was packed, and we were there for 4 hours, approximately 3 minutes of which were spent with the doctor. Luckily the ankle isn’t broken, just a bad sprain. A tech outfitted me with a lovely air cast, a pair of crutches, and two prescriptions, and sent me on my way. I should be off the crutches in a week or so.

Good times…good times…

Have a great fall, crash, stupidity, Incident-free day!
c.