How Was Your Trip Last Fall?

Hey, friends. I hope you are well. It has been a crazy busy week. And I have spent the better part of the last 5 days without internet. But it has been a good weekend. Wait. Weekend? It's Wednesday. It feels like Monday. We sang in Yonges Island, SC on Sunday (had a great time with new SC friends), flew to Missouri on Monday, and sang all day at the Missouri Baptist Convention all day yesterday. And by all day, I mean we left the hotel at 7:15am and got back to the hotel at 10:30pm. I think I left a vocal cord sitting on the stage of the church somewhere. We had a great time, though.

Something happened to me this weekend that those of you who know me well are going to love. In fact, if you are one of my close friends, this is going to make your day. It's really not a very big deal or a very funny story. But I'm going to tell it anyway. Feel free to stop reading if you fear boredom. I'm about to squeeze a 3 sentence story into hundreds of words.

While we were at Yonges Island this past weekend, we were literally so far away from a main town that there were no hotels even remotely close to the church. So, the team and I stayed in a house. Not just any house. But a hotel-sized house. I'm talking The Shining sized house. Maybe not that big. But we all had our own rooms and our own bathrooms with all the girls on one floor on the boys on a different floor. The word gargantuan comes to mind. So anyway, on Saturday night, we had some practicing to do, because the church had requested we do some songs that we had never done live. So we got together in one of the dens of the house and rehearsed. At some point, Seth got up and went to the restroom. While he was gone, I decided I would be a wise-guy and get up and hide and jump out and scare the daylights out of him when we came back (yes, I am 13). I walked to the door frame of the room I thought he went into. Then I heard a noise to my right. I turned to my right, and that's when it happened. My feet began slipping and flapping and spinning at what seemed like a ridiculously fast pace. It was as if they were moving so fast that they were just a blur, much like the Coyote when he is racing off a cliff. Anyway, I began to take a tumble. My hands flew up in the air as I began to scramble to grab onto the door frame, as well as whatever invisible handrail I thought was hanging in space in front of me. I literally saw my feet at almost eye-level, as my shin hit the door frame. I remember thinking to myself that I was in a mess. I continued plummeting to the ground for what had to be at least 21 minutes...or maybe 3 seconds. I'm not sure. After my hard-fought scramble, I landed on the ground, right shoulder blade first, followed by my right elbow, right booty, and then the rest of my mid-air self.

My first thought: "Dear Lord, please don't let anyone have seen me." My second thought: OUCH. I jumped up as fast as I could. Julie saw it happened and had already jumped up because she thought I was going to be half-dead. She began saying things like "Oh no!" Are you alright?" "Oh my goodness!" And then I knew how ridiculous I looked when she finally just began saying," Bless. Bless. Bless." As in, "Bless your heart, you idiot."

So I immediately started laughing, because that's my natural reaction when someone falls. Even when I fall. I can't help it. I'm weird. And a little mischievous, maybe. But it is just my automatic nervous reaction when I see someone fall (as long as the person is not seriously hurt. That's a different story). I am sucker for any youtube video of anyone falling. So I'm laughing. And at this point Seth is back out, and Lici is up checking on me too. They are laughing, but also a little bit like, "Is it OK for me to laugh because you finally got yours, even though it was an abnormally hard fall?" I assured them that I was OK, and I was laughing too. But then something weird happened. I began to have these convulsive-like chills. Seriously. Chills and shivers that were out of control. They were staring at me like I had grown three arms out of my skull. But I couldn't help it. I felt OK. I mean, I was hurting and freezing cold and jerking around with shivers uncontrollably. But I felt fine otherwise. They told me that my skin had turned not just pale, but gray. They helped me to a mirror so I could see for myself. And they were right. My face was freaky-weird-blue-gray. I didn't know what in the world was going on. They took me to the couch and put about 5 blankets on me. I sat there and shivered for about 15 minutes, and then it finally went away.

I'm not really sure why the shivers happened. Shock of some kind? I don't know. Either way, it was weird. I knew it was a loud thump when the host mom yelled from the kitchen, one floor and 1.2 miles away, "Is everything OK up there?" They were very sweet and took great care of my walking-challenged self.

I was pretty sore the next day (I still am).

So, to all you friends of mine that I have so mercilessly laughed at when you have tripped, slid, fallen, or been gravity-challenged in any way, now's your chance to laugh it up. Really. Take your moment. I deserve it.

If you need me today, I will be hobbling through various airports on my way home.

And in the words of the wise Casey Kasem, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.