Falling

When you think about it, we use the term "falling" to describe a lot of what goes on in life.

We "fall" in love, we "fall" out of love. We "fall" over ourselves to get to something or to achieve something. We "fall" pregnant, and we "fall" into debt. We "fall" about laughing when something is incredibly funny, and we "fall" in a heap when we are tired or unbelievably sad. Cities "fall" in times of war, and good people who have gone bad, "fall" from grace.

I have actually done a lot of "falling" in my life - from childhood, right through to the present.

Children fall over all the time, but my Dad sometimes likes to refer to me as "the girl who could fall over while standing still." He is generally referring to an age in my life where I could not stay still. I was full of beans and constantly on the go. One particular day, I was in the kitchen and Mum was telling me off for not staying still and paying attention to whatever it was she was trying to tell me.

I tried. Oh, how I tried. And then I fell over. And then everyone fell about laughing.

Admittedly, I have only "fallen" in love once, and I hope I never "fall" out of love and thanks to that love, I have "fallen" pregnant twice. I have "fallen" in a complete heap 15 months ago when my sister died, and still do every now and again. I quite often "fall" over myself to make a cup of tea (my last true vice) and I hope that for many years to come, I shall continue to "fall" about laughing at hilarious things that happen.

The other morning, I "fell" over in a new and different way. I am an early riser most days - if I don't wake up under my own steam, Schnitzel is a very helpful alarm clock. Her paw in my face.

So I had dragged myself out of bed feeling fairly bleary eyed from lack of sleep, and I was trying to keep quiet as everyone else was still sleeping. I leaned over to put my pj pants on (I had kicked them off during the night) and promptly put both feet into the same leg hole.

I lost my balance completely and was falling hard. I put my hand out to the chair in the loungeroom to break my fall, and my hand went straight through the chair and got caught up in the cushion. My head connected with the chair frame and then the floor.

I tried to right myself, but the strength had completely gone from my arms. Schnitzel, showing great concern for me, began to bark and run around thinking that this was a marvellous new game and she wanted to play too.

The only way to sort this out was to remove the pj pants, and begin again. I wiggled out of them, stood up, and put them on the right legs. I stood there shaking my head at myself.

Harri appeared from his bedroom enquiring as to all the noise, and as I explained what happened, he said "hmmm, how the mighty have fallen"......

Needless to say, I fell about laughing.