I am one of the many North Shore residents who has been stepping and sitting a bit gingerly in recent weeks. I am one of many folks who slipped and fell on the ugly ice earlier this month. It happened because I was in a hurry, of course.
I was leaving my house and I got tired of chipping away at the thick coat of ice on my car. I got the windshield reasonably cleared off and took off down my driveway. When I reached the slope at the bottom of our road, I realized that I couldn’t see out of my side windows. I needed to finish the scraping. Exasperated, I popped open the door and stepped out onto the icy incline—and fell with a tailbonecrunching thud onto the hard ground. I sat there for a moment trying not to cry.
Ever so slowly, I hoisted myself up and made my way around the car with the window scraper, praying that I wouldn’t fall again. I successfully made it around the car, cleared the side windows and continued on my way, tailbone throbbing.
My rear end continued to ache, but I figured there was nothing that could be done about it. I chose to live a little dangerously just a few days after the fall when I decided to take the trail through the woods to my neighbor’s house to borrow some butter. I knew the path through the woods would be okay as it was nice crunchy snow, but our parking area was still glare ice. I knew I had to tread very carefully. I was quite determined not to fall again. I knew if I did, it would be incredibly painful.
Of course, our golden retriever, Fearless, wanted to come along. I didn’t want to take the chance of being tripped, so I let him out the door before me. Golden retrievers, as anyone who has owned one knows, absolutely love snow. So, although I cautioned him that the yard was icy, Fearless didn’t listen. He dashed out the door and hit the ice at full speed, slipping and sliding across the yard, finally stopping spread-eagled and surprised near the path into the woods. He was unhurt, but stunned. He did however, join me in walking cautiously the rest of the way.
After a few more days of discomfort, I consulted my friend the Swedish chiropractor, who made an adjustment. Within a day I was feeling a little better. I am now moving much easier—although not exactly back to normal. There are still some positions in yoga class that are too uncomfortable to assume!
I am happy that my butt is better and that we finally have a nice cushion of snow. I dearly hope that I make it the rest of the winter without another upset, but if I do have to fall, I would rather fall into a snowbank than onto the icy, hard-packed ground. And I’m pretty sure Fearless feels the same.
Sunshine is delicious, rain is
refreshing, wind braces up, snow is
exhilarating; there is no such thing as
bad weather, only different kinds of
good weather.
John Ruskin
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