Falling: a memoir
“You weren’t actually drowning, you know. All you had to do was stand up!” my sister said before bending over and having a laughing fit. The location was somewhere in Mexico, about 7 years ago during the summer. I had been standing next to my sitting sister on a small bridge over a small stream that ran in front of my grandparent’s farm. Having fallen into said stream unexpectedly, and face first, I was not prepared to hold my breath so that water wouldn’t go up my nose. So, when my sun-warmed face hit the freshly fallen rainwater, which was freezing, the shock of the cold cause me to inhale sharply.
My sister had told me to sit down, but being the stubborn child I was, I didn’t listen. Keep in mind that eight-year-old me was not very bright when it came to common sense. Panic-stricken from landing face first, laying on the hard cement beneath the stream, and having inhaled cold water, the thought of simply standing up had been snatched from my mind. All I could think was that I was drowning. I couldn’t die like this! Not in Mexico at only eight years old and certainly not before having been able to ride the horses my grandparents had on their farm. My arms were flailing as I struggled to stand, my sister jumped from her place on the bridge and landed next to me. She picked me up and got me out of the stream in one swift movement. I was crying. Even as we went inside the house, I couldn’t catch my breath. “You’re okay,” she said as she wrapped a warm towel around me.  She was my hero. To her however, I’m sure I had looked like the biggest idiot there ever was, and I would never hear the end of it.
Another dumb fall I had when I was six, has two different versions. Mine, and my sister’s. According to my sister, when we shared a room, I had once got up in the middle of the night, wearing fuzzy blue mittens with orange dinosaurs on them, and began dancing in the dark. Why? No reason, just felt like dancing. However, I remember I had been dancing in the room when my sister came in, turned off the light, and went to bed. This is where both versions of the stories come together, I had fallen. Hard. As I fell, I hit my right shoulder on the bedpost.  A large bruise had immediately formed and karma had me crumpled on the floor in a fetal position, balling my eyes out. My mother was out working third shift, so after getting up quickly, turning the light on, and running to my side, my sister had called her. “Mom, we’ve had a bit of an accident.” my sister said. Wiping the tears from my six-year-old eyes, she gave a small chuckle. After explaining her version of what had happened, to my mom over the phone, they both of had quite a good laugh.
Being the lovely family that we are, both of these falls and many more, come back to haunt me every year around my birthday. It’s funny to think that reminiscing about the embarrassing and idiotic falls of my childhood, could bring such joy to my family and pain to me. Every time I hear “Remember that one time when Susy fell?” My cheeks turn bright red as I say “You’d have to be more specific” and laugh. I’ll admit, I was a dumb child. Incredibly clumsy in fact. In retrospect, these falls are quite hilarious, but boy does gravity hurt sometimes. To this day, I’m still learning that lesson, but at least I haven’t broken anything… yet.