I use to live in Italy in this old castle on a student exchange. One rainy day on the way to class (which was in the former dungeon) I took the top step of the stone spiral a tad too quickly and slipped. The stairs were wet from all the other people traipsing up and down, in and out of the rain, and so I continued to fall, step by step on my butt. I have a spinal fusion with metal implants and I hit the bottom of my rods on every step, all the way down. I was really hurt and not anxious to repeat the situation.

And then…

Last year in England I was upstairs alone at a relative’s house, there was a knock at the door and as I turned on the stairs my foot slipped on the slick carpet. I went rolling down the stairs like Indiana Jones’ boulder and crashed into the wall. I made it to the door, limping and a little teary, and was more hurt that another relative, who was doing the knocking, didn’t even ask if I was okay or seem to care.

Hopefully I won’t have a third installment to this tale of clumsiness!