Battered and Bruised, But Hanging in There

Hi, everyone.

Hope you all have had a smooth transition from summer into fall. Unfortunately, mine has been a little rough.

I have never been what you can call graceful. I'm not accident prone or a klutz--well, okay, I am. I constantly trip over nothing. At any rate one of the lingering memories of my mother is her telling me, "For Pete's sake, child, lift your feet!" Now, my mother was a big believer in the worse the medicine tasted or the more the topical application stung, the faster I'd get better or heal. Her favorite weapon was Methiolate--no Mecurachrome (not sure of the spelling so bear with me), but the stuff that stung like hell. I don't think either are available anymore. I went through my early childhood with orange knees, elbows, and band-aids. The situation didn't improve with age. I was always one of the last kids picked for team sports during Phys. Ed. Just not coordinated AT ALL.

So that brings me up to a couple of weeks ago. My husband and I were walking the dogs. Now, we live in an older neighborhood with mature trees. Those old tree roots have worked their way under the sidewalks in some places causing them to buckle and crack. In other spots, the sections built over utility lines have sunk causing more unevenness.

I'm walking Fred who pulls and tugs. He's always in a hurry, so much so that I call him FredEx. Anyhoo, he suddenly jerked to the left. My right foot hit one of those upheavals. I fell and did a face plant on the sidewalk. I've always heard about incidents occurring in slow motion. It's true. I remember the sidewalk slowly coming my way and not being able to do a thing about it. Kinda scary.

I tried to get to my hands and knees. That's when I saw my glasses shattered on the concrete with blood dripping on them. Then the pain hit. I rolled over onto my back and groaned. My husband had both dogs and couldn't help me up. Luckily, a neighbor was outside and came to our assistance. He and his wife got me to my feet and into a lawn chair where they wiped the blood away as much as possible and provided a baggie full of ice wrapped in a towel for my forehead. Hubby hustled the dogs home and picked me up for a trip to the the ER.

Three hours later I was back home. Thank goodness I wasn't badly injured and didn't even need stitches, just those little strips. The CAT scan and X-rays showed my brains weren't scrambled any worse than before. My head hurt like hell and the next day both of my eyes were black--and I mean black. I resembled a character in a horror movie.

This happened about two weeks ago. The bruises are slowly fading, although I may never again wear purple eye shadow. We still walk the dogs, but you better believe I keep my head down and watch where I'm going. On the up side, I don't have to do much for a Halloween costume. I'll simple go as a raccoon.

Oh, and FYI, did you know that the homeowner is responsible for the maintenance of the sidewalk in front of their home? The city reserves the right to dig up the slabs for routine utility work, but if they don't do a good job replacing the section, it's up to you to shoulder the correction if you want. Many of my neighbors are older and on fixed incomes. I would never sue a neighbor over something like this, but some people will. I plan on buying a lot of ice melting chemicals for the walk in front of our house this winter.

So that's about it. I wear a large hat and sunglasses whenever I need to go out. In today's climate of accusations and finger-pointing, I'd hate to have my husband stared at as a wife-beater. Nope, nothing like that. I'm just a klutz.

Geez, I almost forgot. Book #3 of The Snoop Group series will be released in both e-format and paperback on November 26, 2018. Books #1 and #2, A Novel Death and Killer Conference are out now and available through The Wild Rose Press and on Amazon.

I'll wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving and hope you have a great time with friends and family.

Until next month.

Suzanne