Ever have one of those days when things start to go VERY wrong, but suddenly 'fate' intercedes?

[Siwsan]

Ok, maybe not fate. Maybe pure luck. Maybe something else.

I was in the garage looking for something and the toe of my gardening shoes got caught in one of those plastic loops that holds together a stack of yard waste bags. I started falling, uncontrollably, at a freaky forward angle towards the concrete floor. Suddenly and SOMEHOW I managed to catch and regain my balance, avoiding face planting and doing who knows how much scary damage to my cranium. Since the garage door was closed, I could have been there for a LONG time before regaining consciousness or being discovered.

Maybe Dad's spirit is visiting and he caught me. That’s what I’m going to believe. And maybe I should just go back to bed.

All of those loop fasteners are gathered up and tossed into the bin.

[Demovictory9]

1. The "somehow" is fast reflexes..your brain telling your hands

"Get to work..right now!!!"

Glad your are ok

[Siwsan]

2. Or, telling me 'It's too freaking HOT to be working outside. Pour yourself some cold Chardonnay!'

The thing is, about a year before he died, that exact thing happened to my Dad. My mom was shopping and he went out the garage and fell. We don't know for how long but he helpless for a good stretch of time. He did some significant damage to his face. I can still remember cleaning up all of that blood.

I'm a MAJOR klutz with a horrible sense of balance. There's an endless list of ways I've injured myself, including the time I dropped a garden rototiller on my head.

If ever anyone needed injury intercession from a guardian angel, it's definitely me. Who knows. That might be why that rototiller only dented my skull, instead of cracking it open.

[nocoincidences]

7. I am just as klutzy as you are.

There is no way I could have righted myself from the fall you describe. Good for you and for your Dad if he intervened!

I am a serious danger to myself since I hit about 65. I managed to go my entire life without a major bone break, only a minor nose fracture, but at 65 I fell at work and broke my wrist, badly, and since then I have busted toes and feet right and left. I went on a vacation to Puerta Vallarta in February, and slipped and fell poolside, in humiliating full view of all the new friends I had been making. And then the humiliation of having to be lifted by several people because I absolutely can't get up off the floor without multiple helpers!

There should be a particularly cozy comfy spot for us if there is a heaven, because we deserve a good safe rest!

All those muscled athletic types who just float through their senior years can just bite my fluffy white butt...you know what I mean?

[Siwsan]

8. For as much as I have fallen, during my lifetime, I've never broken a major bone.

I've broken pretty much every toe, multiple times, but that's it.

[qazplm135]

3. your inner ear is VERY good

at determining sudden changes in orientation.

It told your brain, which told your hands.

[Siwsan]

5. I have a crazy, whonky sense of balance. Or, rather, lack there of

If I'd ever be stopped and given one of those sobriety tests where you have to stand on one leg, with the other extended for 10 seconds, I'd fail, stone cold sober.

When I was in basic training, I was in charge of 'leading' the unit when we were out marching. Well, we tended to march to the left, which is my lean, both physically and politically. When I really started to lean off course, the person behind me would 'pssst' so I'd know to correct. It got to be a running joke. I never understood why they didn't replace me. And, still to this day, when I walk I meander to the left.


At best I will concede it was luck. Certainly nothing to do with good balance.

[qazplm135]

9. well there's a difference

between your ability to maintain good balance, and your sense of whether you are rapidly falling or not.

[Siwsan]

10. I have a history of accidents and falling, but fortunately have never broken a major bone

However, I have broken all of my toes. I think it would be a GREAT idea if I started to look down, when I walk, to avoid pitfalls and obstructions. Of course, then I'll probably start walking into walls.

[Midnight Writer]

11. Interesting. When police chase a fleeing person on foot, they find the person tends to veer left.

Apparently a common instinct.

I've seen this attributed to "split brain" behavior, with one half of the brain dominating motor skills.

[Siwsan]

12. I'm 'artificially' ambidextrous so the lobes of my brain are either cooperating or at war.

My mother was left handed and the nuns forced her to use her right hand. She did the same to me. So, I write with my right hand, something are far easier with my left, and pretty much everything else I do can be accomplished with either hand.

I often wondered if this is why I have NO sense of direction. Zip, zero, zilch. You could spin my sister in crazy circles, stop her, and she'd be able to tell you exactly which direction she was facing.

[Ohiogal]

4. Glad you are OK!

That must have been really scary! Maybe your dad did catch you.

My husband is very absent minded and hence accident prone. We call him “an accident waiting to happen”. One time the leaf mulcher got clogged so he stuck his hand in to loosen the debris and forgot to turn the damn thing off. Cut his finger right off at the knuckle.

He is always coming in the back door yelling for ice for an injury or something he splashed in his eye, etc. etc.

Hey I’m all for a cold glass of Chardonnay to ease the spirit ... 😉

[Siwsan]

6. Thanks! It was scary

I was actually looking for the electric hedge trimmer so maybe it's a good thing I didn't find it! I might have ended up on the 5 o'clock news!