What's that they say about pride?

 I am so sore tonight. All day my bones have ached. My joints ache. My back aches. 

No, I didn't work out hard yesterday. Want to know what I did to cause these aches?

I fell. 

I didn't just fall, I bit it. 

We were downtown last night, a night on the town. I was walking but not watching where I was walking, my head turned to face my husband. Next thing I knew I was soaring through the air. 

I completely, totally, utterly missed a stair. And as I tumbled through the air, I kept thinking "What the fu...." I landed hard on the pavement, my hands luckily catching me, my knees scraping on the edge of the missed step. 

I landed with a literal ooof. I could hear the people around me gasp. As I rolled myself over to my butt, I did a mental inventory. I could feel my cheeks flushing.

My husband bent over me, horrified and worried. I took a deep breath. I felt myself welling up, willing myself not to cry. 

Our friends rushed over. "Are you okay?" they hovered. 

"I'm fine. Go away." That's what I said. Me, a grown woman. I just wanted to be invisible. 

And so today I hurt. My palms are bruised, my knee hurts, and I'm still pissed at the way that sidewalk disappeared right underneath me. 

And I'm reminded of how humbling it is to fall in front of people. I'm also thankful for being strong enough to catch myself. There's a metaphor in there, I'm sure. I'm too busy tending to my band-aids, though, to suss it out. 

I'm such a baby. But a bruised palm hurts! 

I haven't had a skinned knee in, oh, 20 years. At least!