Twisting

I have notoriously weak ankles. In the last year, I've turned my left ankle twice in ten months. I never sprain the left ankle but the damage to the right side of my body is noticeable.

Last May, I was picking James up from finals and turned my left ankle. I must have loose ligaments or something because the left ankle is never injured or painful but the right knee is banged up but good. I went sprawling, breath knocked out of me sprawling. A parent saw me and turned her head, pretending she didn't see me. So not nice. Your kid goes to school with my kid! Really???? So I picked myself up and patched myself up when I got home. So much for neighbors in this instance. Not my usual experience with neighbors.

Sunday I was shopping in Riverhead for my son James who is heading off to Myrtle Beach for a baseball tournament. This one gets filed under the "No good deed goes unpunished" category. I had just finished up shopping and was heading back to my truck. Next thing I know I am on my side, one shoe flew off, shopping bag flew off, hand bleeding, jeans ripped at the right knee. I fell hard. Stop laughing, Kerriann. You know you are. JK :)

I've never fallen so hard that I tore my jeans. A gentleman sees me fall and stops to see if I'm OK, do I need anything. I jump up as quickly as I can and say I'm fine, I'm fine. It's always my reaction. Bounce back as quickly as possible.

I was more shaken than I originally thought. The heel of my hand was bleeding profusely, my knee was torn up in the same spot as last May.

A car pulls up in front of me. It's the gentleman who saw me fall. He came back to check on me. A complete stranger went above and beyond to make sure I was OK. He rolled down his window and asked me if I needed anything to help clean up my hand. A complete stranger did this. A local resident saw me fall and turned her head as if she didn't see it.

In the words of Blanche Dubois and the writer Tennessee Williams, "I have depended on the kindness of strangers."

Thank God for them.