remembering "the tumble"

Those of you that really know me know that I am quite mechanically challenged. Thus, the thought of me riding a motor scooter can be frightening. Some years ago I went to Bermuda with a group of friends who had gathered from all around the country for a week of fellowship. Of course, i desired to play golf, but I found peeps don't rent cars there, they ride SCOOTERS. If I wanted to play golf at the various courses with friends, I had to rent a scooter.

Fortunately the scooter rental place had a practice track for folks like me. With confidence I rented my scooter and headed to the track. It was very small and just went around in a circle. Surely I could do this, so I started around the track.

I wasn't doing great but I was managing. On about the 3rd time around I lost my balance a little, just a little bit mind you. To steady myself and keep from falling, I placed my left foot on the ground while I was still rolling. I wasn't going fast but fast enough to create a "disaster". My foot caught the ground in some bizarre way and my left knee snapped.

Of course the scooter became history as I vaulted over the handle bars and over the curb of the track. That wasn't all, there was a bank there and I began tumbling down it. That's not all, there was a hedge there and I rolled thru it. It seemed like I was tumbling for days. Mind out of body experience for sure.

Well, that's not all, the hedge separated the training track from a golf course and I rolled down onto the tee box of one of the holes. Needless to say i was a bit shaken by this but not as much as the golfers who were just standing there, ready to tee off, but was interrupted by this man tumbling down upon their tee. I looked up and saw a few faces staring at me and I just said "hi there." Fortunately, I don't embarrass easily but it was quite an awkward moment for me and those witnessing this, too.

Not to be deterred from my goal of golf, I then had to ride on the back of a scooter with a friend, carrying my golf bag to the course. My knee was killing me but I was not to be deterred. About half way thru the round my knee just locked up. I could no longer even walk. I traveled back to Charlotte through airports in a wheel chair, repeating this story to all who asked, "what happened?" It made for a pretty good after dinner story for years to come.

It also resulted in surgery when I returned to repair the torn cartilage in my knee. Its Memorial Day weekend, when we focus on remembering (my previous blog). So the tumble I took today brought back memories of this experience. I was working in the yard and Spot (the dog) was outside with one end of his leash tied to a tree. This seemingly harmless and common practice provided a trip line for me as I walking from one task to the other. Of course i took a big tumble, turned a flip, shoes disappeared as they flew through the air, I landed on the driveway resulting in abrasions, bruises, and soreness.

The dog is traumatized but OK .....

REMEMBERING our tumbles in life can help us keep our perspective!!!