Some people fall in love. Some fall from grace.
I just fall.
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| My glasses - frame and lens - survived the fall by flying off... (Margo D. Beller) |
I was on a cindered trail in the woods near my town's community garden yesterday morning when I left the trail to walk closer to the bordering marsh. I stepped over a small, downed tree. At least I thought I did. I conjecture my trailing foot caught the trunk and I suddenly found myself falling forward.
Glasses flew. So did my hat, stick and the phone. My binoculars were on me thanks to its harness. My notebook was in an overshirt pocket and held in place by a harness strap. It stayed in the pocket tho' the pen bent some of the pages.
First order of business - sit up. Wiggle toes and fingers. Raise arms. No broken bones though the little finger of my right hand had abrasions and hurt. No head pain, no blurred vision.
Next - find the glasses. No breakage. None on the phone or the binoculars.
So I'm OK. Now collect everything and stand up.
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| ...but not before gashing the bridge of my nose. (Margo D. Beller) |
Once standing I walked a few steps, found my legs could work and I continued around the short path and back to the car. The bruising started to show up at home once I started icing my right hand, then my left knee, then my left wrist. I found a mosquito had taken advantage and bit my right hand, so anti-itch cream was applied. The glasses had gashed the bridge of my nose before flying off. The wound was washed and covered with a bandage.
This morning the pains are virtually gone thanks to eight hours of rest and an Advil. I can put my glasses, thankfully not bent, on my nose again.
The psychic pain will take a little longer to heal.
I was lucky the fall was on ground, which gives a bit more than cement. I was lucky no bones broke, that I could get home. I've had other falls, and I feel blessed to have yet another second chance at life. The older you get, the less that is a given.
Things could've been a whole lot worse and I was happy to rise early this morning and sit on my patio, listening to the dawn chorus with Merlin.
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| (RE Berg-Andersson) |
Yes, Merlin is getting a second chance, too.
Besides not knowing where my legs were when I stepped over the tree, I might've been distracted by my phone. Last week I was at the Great Swamp very early and was frustrated at hearing things I could not identify. I decided to try Merlin again, for the first time since May. I found there had been some changes to the app and it seems to run much better, tho' I have not downloaded the database that would be necessary if I was birding in an area with no cellphone connection.
On the trail Merlin was finding an Eastern peewee, a bird whose very high, thin call I can't hear unless I am literally under the bird. I was trying to find where the bird was to hear it. Eventually, I did. But that was after the fall. I don't remember if I was looking at the phone when I fell but it was definitely in my hand, not a pocket, which might've saved it from damage.
Merlin and I will be birding the backyard, carefully, for the foreseeable future.
