And I survived!

To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m writing this blog for you and for me – okay, it’s mostly for me.

A couple of weeks ago, I was out promoting the high school where I work to prospective 8^th graders.  It’s a tradition – each year, the dean of admissions and I visit this particular school, enjoy a fun diner lunch spending some time catching up during this always hectic time of admissions.  It’s become our annual “date”.

After enjoying a very delicious lunch of a BLT and a chocolate egg cream (milk, chocolate syrup and some seltzer – for you non-Brooklynites) and a great presentation to the 8^th graders, we were walking down the MARBLE staircase to go on our merry way, when all of a sudden the heel of my shoe got stuck on the step, and I began to fall down about three or four MARBLE stairs.  After realizing I was never going to catch myself, I guess I just let myself fall and somehow twisted onto my back, banged my head so freaking hard on the MARBLE floor.  The sound of my head hitting the floor was deafening….it was so loud, ladies from three rooms away ran to see what had happened.  Thankfully, one of them was the school nurse.  God is good!

Man, my head hurt…and man, I was scared.  You see, my dad died from a brain hemorrhage many years ago and my mom died from a fall as well – oh, let’s not forget my favorite uncle (my dad’s brother) died a few years back from guess what? –that’s right…from falling and hitting his back fracturing his spine.  So there I went – right to worst case scenario.  I panicked like it was no one’s business – especially when I started to see silver floaters out of my left eye. 

To make a long story short, after being checked out at the hospital with a CAT scan, thankfully I was fine.  But, man, it was a scary few hours and a weekend of rest and lots of Tylenol. 

The part I want to share most with you is the feeling I’m carrying in my thoughts and in my heart.  OUR LIFE IS SHORT AND IT CAN CHANGE ON A DIME!  I’ve been writing this blog in my head for many days.  I’ve been trying to process the message the incident has shown me.  My sister feels it was life showing me that I can fall (worst fear) and survive – that people fall and recover.  A very good friend feels it was life showing me that I need to give my body so much more credit than I have in the past.  I’m strong and healthy enough to get through this. 

In my heart I know the message is that I need to cherish every moment…we never, ever know when something serious can hurt us or someone we love that could change of our life forever.  We never know when our time is up, and we need to wake up and recognize the small stuff. 

I did not have a near death experience, but it certainly was a wake-up call.  I want to truly listen to my friend and appreciate how strong my body is and what a fascinating thing it is to sustain such a fall without a bruise, broken bone or even broken nail.  The worst part was I had to postpone my hair-coloring appointment an extra week. 

I really don’t mean to be a Negative Nancy, but things CAN change so quickly.  My brother-in-law who recently barely survived sepsis was in his garage using his table saw and his hand slipped and he nearly lost three fingers — in just one second his life changed (not drastically, but enough)…on Halloween a man got out of his car and punched a kid in the face for throwing eggs while his two kids watched from the car – had this man been caught – his life and his children’s would change in a flash…Sometimes our decisions and reactions can change the lives of so many.

We all need to slow down, cherish our life at this very moment, be kind to ourselves and others, make good choices,  and breathe with gratitude and joy…

Thanks for letting me share my story once again and promise me, you’ll be careful walking down the stairs – I know I am.