“… coming in for an unscheduled and unpleasant landing.”
With all of the snow and rain that’s been freezing and melting and freezing, the condition of moisture on our driveway has been fluctuating on a pretty regular basis. A few times, we’ve had to clear off over six inches of snow. Last week, it was turning to water and running into the street. Now the temperature has dropped below 32 degrees again and according to my dad, “It’s slicker than slick outside.”
I was walking down the front steps to drive to play rehearsal this evening. (I’m working behind the scenes instead of being on stage this time, but it’s still fun.) I keep my car parked in front of the garage that’s right next to the steps. There have been several instances where I brushed the snow off my car and slipped on a patch of ice located immediately in front of it. No casualties, but I knew it was there. Tonight, for some ungodly reason, it never occurred to me that the melting and freezing might have made that patch of ice bigger.
My foot hit the bottom of the steps and I was airborne.
In retrospect, I think I landed pretty well. Sure, my legs shot up into the air and I landed flat on my back, but I cleared the steps so I didn’t hit any edges. Well, most of me cleared the steps: the back of my head introduced itself to one of the decorative bricks sitting next to the bottom step. Thankfully, my winter hat is made of a thick cotton that’s long enough for me to fold up on itself, so the two layers cushioned the impact. Aside from the potential loss of dignity (and who really needs that, anyway?), I strained the left side of my neck and that’s about it.
I ended up being late to rehearsal: I didn’t plan extra time for brushing and scraping off my car plus a few more brief slips on the driveway—I was taking short steps to maintain a tight center of gravity, so I stayed upright. I eventually made it there in one piece, then drove home and walked up the front steps in one piece as well, going the long way around the car to avoid that booby-trapped section of the driveway. I can usually remember a lesson after learning it the hard way just once.
