Brokeknee Mountain

Note:  Read "Legends of My Falls," "One Flew Over the Basement Stairs," "Snow White Falling on Cedar," "Down, Down and Away," "The Accidental Tourist," "The Latte Show," "Up the Downed Suitcase<" "Hawaii K-O," "Things That Go Bump in the Night," "Pop Goes the Damsel," "Not-S-Secret Garden" and "Slip Slidin Away" before reading this post.

One of my favorite places in the whole world is Crystal Mountain. Skiers love it in the winter, but I love it in the summer. I have happy memories of riding the chairlift to the top with our young children on warm sunny days. It was such a day when my husband and I made a trip there last July. We parked in the large parking lot at the resort and headed not for the gondolas but to check out a bridge and the quaint Bavarian building on the other side that houses a restaurant.

As we neared the bridge I could hear the sound of a bubbling brook. "Oh, there's water," I observed, and then like a little kid I started to run to the bridge. Me? Run? Never! But for some reason, I took off ahead of my husband, reaching the bridge made of uneven boards before he did. I was wearing my sandals, not the best for good footing, and I hadn't gone far before I tripped. I was thrown forward, and bending over at the waist, I wondered if I could pull myself up and avoid falling. But my forward motion was too much for me, and at some point there I realized there was no avoiding it, I was going down.

I slammed down hard on my left hand and left knee as I fell, and soon I was flat on the bridge. To be in your 60's and in that position is scary, but doing it in public, that is humiliating. An older couple was coming along behind us and of course witnessed my humiliating fall. They join my husband in inquiring, "Are you okay?" This brought back memories of the doorman in Boston (see "The Accidental Tourist") and the two male customers outside of Olympic Coffee in Port Orchard ("The Latte Show"). The three of them helped me get to a sitting position, and my knee was bleeding. My hand hurt. I was truly shaken.

At this point I told this nice couple I would be okay, they could go on their way, but they wouldn't hear of it. "We're not leaving until we know for sure you are okay," the husband said. Then the wife told me she had fallen twice in the past six months, and from one of the falls she had needed dental surgery. My teeth were fine, but my knee was not. Still, not wanting others to try to help me get up, I insisted I needed to get up on my own terms, and gritting my teeth, I got on my knees and began to crawl. And crawl did, all the way over to the side of the bridge, where I was able to pull myself up to a standing position. I thanked the nice couple and said I was fine, and convinced of that, they went on their way.

My left knee hurt for many months. The fall didn't help my sciatica in the least. I told the BVG's about it and said, "No more falls for us," and I really believed it. I thought I would be careful from then on, but three months later I was at it again, and then again three months after that.

What part of 'no' do I not understand???