I am
not certain, but I am thinking that clumsiness may be hereditary. My sister and
I are "fallers". We have talked about this on more than one occasion.
The issue is always there for consideration. We can and do fall for no apparent
reason at any time - in any place - with no notice whatsoever. We also bump
into things, shut our fingers in drawers, open doors into ourselves, drop stuff (as my niece would say), and
are unexpectedly clumsy in general. We live with the klutz factor and have
always assumed that we inherited this tendency from our Mom who was a
klutz as well. It was a special bond. We have laughed about it and
... have laughed at each other. The three of us
always found each other's dilemmas funny in an odd sort of way -- a tie that
binds, I guess. Our Mom was always the first to laugh. She started it. My sister and I
still find each other funny. It's special.
My sister has real horror stories of embarrassment resulting from this condition -- one story even involves policemen on bicycles. On a coffee break at a Starbucks just across the way, they witnessed one of her falls and called an ambulance. Seriously - this happened -- a crowd gathered. She had to deal with zealous paramedics in front of everyone. I laugh every time I think about it. Am I awful? On the other hand, I think my most horrific fall was the time I fell while walking in a crowded hallway of the school where I taught. I tripped on nothing while walking with and talking to a student.
I, unfortunately and unluckily for him, had a pen in my hand at the time and ... let's just say although there was ample blood, no stitches were required. (My students did have a tendency to avoid walking with me in the hallway between classes after that.) I also fell while deplaning in Atlanta once -- I tell everyone that my heel caught on the steps of the airplane. Of course -- I think her stories are hysterically funny. Mine -- not so much.... I am wondering if she, too, is still hoping that we will at some point grow out of this tendency.
The thing is -- we have come to accept the situation. We always have soft washcloths, antibiotic cream and bandages on hand. (We own spare eyeglasses.) It is never a surprise to hear that my sister has tripped over nothing and fallen on her face. I did the same thing just a couple of days before that -- whenever it was. It happens without warning. Seriously we can trip on nothing, and we fall so quickly that we don't have time to protect ourselves. Thump....
When I began to write about this topic, I thought that my daughter and niece might have escaped – that the tendency may have skipped a generation. Both of them disagree vehemently. Wish you could have seen my daughter's face when I brought that up. She thinks that she was born with the factor, but that she has outgrown it somewhat. I think that is dangerous thinking, but I hope she is right. My niece emailed me from Baltimore that she definitely has the klutz factor and had me laughing out loud as I read about her always having “at least one mysterious, self-inflicted bruise at any given time” and about a fall in front of a busload of tourists who were “milling about”. I must mention here that she had made it - walking all the way across the Golden Gate Bridge without even a hint of a trip before this happened. Good job on that!
Now considering the forth generation -- my granddaughter is showing some signs. I’m not sure. I will keep a watchful eye on her and can offer understanding and support if the situation continues. There are worse things for certain. My sister's granddaughter is still in the Toddler stage. She's expected to fall. We will be keeping an eye on her as well. We have experience and wisdom in this area as you now know.
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