I’m a Klutz
This was about my 30th time to sit on top of Angels Landing in Zion. I was never injured on the hike, which many people are afraid to take, because I always left my klutziness behind. I now need to learn how to do that on flat ground. — Photo by Kim Perrin
And Age Hasn’t Changed Things
When I was growing up my knees were always skinned, I still have a scar from falling out of a tree, and I chipped a tooth falling on the sidewalk running for the school bus when I was eight. As I got older, I fell over roots while hiking, once slipped and hit my forehead on my desk at work that required 14 stitches, and things got even worse when I began birdwatching because I was always looking up and not down at my feet.
My first reaction on taking a tumble – I’ve pretty much perfected the art of falling without seriously hurting myself – is to look around and see who saw me. I’m always hoping nobody. I only broke my first bone, a tibular, three years ago when I stepped into an unseen hole on a grassy lawn just a week after I moved into my third-floor walk-up apartment here in Tucson.
My daughter worries that I will fall down the stairs. She shouldn’t. I know to be careful on stairs. I always hold on to the railings, always have. It’s the flat ground, except for that one tree, that has always gotten me.
Until recently, I just accepted that being a klutz, which also includes spilling things, bumping into things and knocking things over, is part of who I am. I never truly worried about my klutziness. But the bruised butt and skinned knee I still have from a fall the other day while carrying two packages that obscured my feet, has finally gotten my attention.
This old broad’s body is showing its age. Falls hurt more and the damage doesn’t disappear as quickly. I can’t do everything I used to do with the same kind of impunity as when I was younger. This acceptance comes with a bucket of tears, including a few being shed as I write this. It’s hard to give up the belief that I can do anything and everything, a trait that has helped me survive in a sometimes tough world.
So does anyone know of a class that will teach me not to be a klutz? This 77-year-old broad certainly needs to take if it you do.
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Bean Pat: Big Sky and Big Adventures http://tinyurl.com/zcnphjh The movie review is interesting but the photos that accompany it are the real story.
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