Adventures on Ice

I have never been known for my coordination and gracefulness. I was the kid who always had at least one skinned knee growing up. It's probably a good thing I had to wear a dress to school, all my slacks would have had holes in their knees. I do a little better as an adult, but not much. I've fallen down stairs, and off ladders, and ice is always a disaster for me. Skating and skiing have always been beyond me. I don't

Daughter has witnessed too many of my falls,and they really scare her. We tend to have a lot of ice in the winter. We keep salt or ice melt around, but there have been times when it was too cold for it to work, or I had to be someplace early and hadn't gotten it out. A number of years ago, Daughter was home sick from school with what I suspected was a UTI. I was headed out the back door with a urine specimen to take to the doctor's office. I hit a patch of ice on the first step and went flying. My only thought was to protect that urine specimen, and I did. I was sore for a few days, but I successfully delivered the urine and got the prescription for antibiotics she needed.

Last Winter I had to go over to the church one icy day. I spread salt ahead of me as I went, and walked on the grass whenever possible. I still fell, terrifying Daughter, who was watching out the front window. At least I fell on the grass, not the hard concrete, so my bruising was not as bad as it might have been. This week we've had several icy mornings. The first one had poor Daughter freaking out. She put salt on the front and rear steps, but as she left for the workshop, she kept begging me to be careful. That morning I heard stories from two friends about falling on ice in parking lots. By the time I headed out the door to take communion to the nursing home, I was terrified. The back steps do not have any kind of a hand rail, but there are fewer steps and they are much closer to the garage. I must have stood there clinging to the corner of the house for five minutes as I examined the step and sidewalk before me for the safest path and started numerous times to put first one foot and then the other down. I finally made it to the car without falling, but I was a nervous wreck by the time I got there.

Yesterday morning Daughter went out and salted a path to the garage for me. Then she came back and carefully helped me to walk to the car, telling me to be careful every other step. When we got to my appointment, she again escorted me across the surface of the parking lot. I felt like a little old lady. I was also very grateful to have her walking beside me. I'm hoping to make it through this winter without any new falls with which to entertain family and friends.