Life for an octogenarian has many hazards. One of them is winding up on the ground when you least expect it (aka falling). If you’re lucky you fall on your ass and don’t hurt yourself. Face planting is usually not good.
A dear friend calls me clumsy. My son and editor says ” Geezer Down” is my claim to fame. Let’s check it out.
Several years ago, at the infamous Charleston Farmers’ Market (infamous for geezers), I was holding court (telling a story) while eating breakfast at a table in one of their damn plastic chairs. I tend to carefully and slowly rock back and forth while spinning my yarn (no, I can’t knit). At one perilous point, I rocked back just a tad too far. The chair went all the way to the ground with me still in it. My feet were up in the air. Not good. I could say I didn’t miss a beat in my story, but that would be a fib.
Actually, I totally forgot my story while struggling to get out of the chair and back to the table.
Luckily, only my ego was bruised. I was fine. I did succeed in drawing a crowd and there was a bunch of kind concern for me, even through their chuckling, which they tried to stifle was pretty obvious.

Fast forward about ten years, and we have my, now famous, face planting in a North Charleston parking area. Since I’ve already enthralled you with the details of that story, I’ll just say that it included an ambulance trip to the Roper Hospital ER. Nine stitches above my right eye later, I came home and ‘splained the incident to Marjorie.

A year or so later, we have yesterday. At the same Farmers’ Market as years before, I began to sit on one of those lovely plastic chairs. The damn thing broke under me, so I fell on my ass with my feet up in the air again. Luckily, I was not hurt. But I attracted a large crowd and told many nervous city employees I wasn’t hurt. Two big dudes helped me up and I nursed my bruised ego all day yesterday.

I’m doing fine today but I must admit, I am a fall risk. I will try to be less clumsy, but hope my luck holds out if I trip, slip, or collapse in a broken chair again. Enuf