It could only happen to me

Many would agree that there is nothing quite as magical as a beautiful, summer, southern California Saturday afternoon at the local park. What would make this day even more memorable and special? Let us add a kite to that equation. Immediately the song from Mary Poppins begins to run through your head (don't be embarassed, the same thing happened to me). Some may even argue that a day at the park is not complete without a kite somewhere in the sky. And I agree, but don't be fooled into thinking that there is no danger involved with flying a kite just because everything was all skipping and laughing for those Banks kids in the movie. For those of you who know me, you know that I am the biggest clutz in the world and if something can happen...it will happen to me. With this, I will reveal the mechanism of my injury. That's right, I am not ashamed to admit that I am limping due to a kite flying accident. (pretty embarassing, huh?)

So I was on a sloped portion of the grass, just below where it begins to level off into the parking lot. As we were trying to launch the kite, I pulled back on the strings and started walking backwards to give the kite more lift (or so I thought in my mind). As I reached the level portion of the grass, I was unaware of the large boulder directly behind me. That's right, straight over it, backwards, ending with my legs sticking straight up in the air (did I mention I was wearing a skirt?) As I was lying there on my back, my legs pointing directly towards the sky and trying to decide between the laughter of embarassment and the tears of pain from the scrapes across the backs of my legs, things got worse. How? you may ask. A car drives up, having witnessed the whole thing, and asks if the wind was so strong that the kite pulled me over. "No" I answered, "I just fell on my own." That's right, folks. I just fall on my own.

So next time you see a kite in the sky, remember that people risk life and limb to get those suckers up in the sky for you to enjoy. As for me, I will be taking up chess. I don't think I can hurt myself playing that game, but who knows?