Falling Gracefully But Not Quietly

If I had to choose the most important move I learned from the 14 years of dance lessons I took, it’s how to fall gracefully. It normally happens in slow motion; however, it doesn’t always happen quietly. When we travelled to Maryland for my cousin’s baby shower, I had one of my classic fall moments. I was standing between the dining room table and the china cabinet (which I understand from my Aunt is also called a “Break Front”) and I was having an interesting conversation with someone when I lost my balance and fell backwards in SLOW motion into the china cabinet. (Ironically, my fall almost broke the “Break Front.”) Since I was in the back of the room, EVERYONE turned around to see what the big noise was all about. As if it wasn’t awkward enough that I had fallen and all of these people were looking at me, I saw my mom coming towards with a worried look on her face and she was ready to help me get back up and brush me off like she did when I was a kid. At the age of 42, I looked at my mom with a stern face holding my hand out to stop her and said, “I got this.” Then, I stood up and saw that everyone was still staring at me so I put my arms above my head and said, “Score” and starting laughing. That made everyone turn back around and it made my family members laugh.