WOUNDED

While cheering on the two teenagers of the household in their weekly basketball game, I looked up just in time to see the enormous blur of a basketball flying directly at me. With absolute precision and the deft physical coordination that I am known for, I sat stock still (or was that shock still) and bravely bore the brunt of that basketball's brutality. It hit me square in the face, knocking my glasses to the floor, breaking the nose piece, and subsequently scratching off perfectly good patches of skin from my not very small in the first place nose. Blood spurted from inside and on top of my nose, splattering the floor, my hands, and (gasp!) my Vera Bradley bag! The game was halted as I blurrily blundered my way across the floor to find the bathroom, with several vague "Are you all right?" queries sounding from somewhere around me. Then, clear as a bell, I heard Lane's voice call out with great care and concern: "Way to watch the game, Mom."

If you sense the sarcasm in Lane's words then either a) you know Lane or b) you just might have been at the game to see that I wasn't really watching very closely... or c) both. Truth is, I was watching the game, but I was also playing Brain Age2 on my new DS Lite (awesome Christmas present from the boys). I would play a bit, then look up and watch a bit. Play a bit more, then look up and cheer for a while. You get the picture. It was during one of the watching bits that the basketball made its mark. I should have just kept playing my DS. Not only was the basketball game a bust (even after the scorekeepers counted 3 points for every basket made by our team on account of my injury!), but if I had just kept my head down, the worst I would have gotten was a bump on the head, and not wounds to my nose! Moral of the story? The stage always has been a safer place for me... (I'm sitting up there next week!)