Have you ever had 'one of those days'?
It's a silly question, I realize. Everyone has had those days.
Today was one of mine.
Let me elaborate (I'm pretty sure you'll find it amusing):
I have started attending a new church (the Rock) in Point Loma. It's such an amazing, large, ecclectic, friendly group of people. And by large, I'm talking thousands of church goers.
With 5 Sunday services to choose from to boot. I have been going to the 10:00 service, which is generally the busiest. As in, overflowing outside from a sanctuary that seats (roughly) 3,000 people in one service (don't quote me on that, I got the stats from a 3rd party website). Regardless of the number of people inside the church, there is typically 60 + people milling around outside the church: going in for the service, leaving the previous service, talking, drinking coffee, praying, etc. It is one busy, bustling place. I have to give you all of this information for you to truly appreciate this story. Just saying.
Anywho, I planned to go to the first service, but stayed up to late and opted to go to the 10:00 service again. I got up and decided to take a quick shower. It was cold this morning; foggy, and overcast. And, the ongoing water heater issue at my place is still in full force. I get blazing hot water, or freezing cold. This morning = freezing. It was rather dreadful.
I dressed, got ready, and totally spaced out on the time frame I needed to travel to the church.
I left late. I arrived late.
I was so flustered, because I hate being late, and naturally the volume of people at the church also meant traffic, and having to park really far from the building.
I began the trek, cursing the shoes I had chosen (cute, semi-high heeled wedges with a buckle back strap). They were pinching my toes, and for every 10-15 steps, I had to stop and fix the strap that kept slipping off my heel. I finally made it to the front of the sanctuary, and decided to remedy the shoe situation before proceeding into the church, where I was already about 10 minutes late. I moved out of the way of the surging crowds of other late comers, removed my shoe, and tightened the strap.
I began to replace my shoe, while balancing my purse and Bible in one arm. In my rush, I failed to notice that my balancing foot wasn't on the sidewalk, as much as it was in the outlying, uneven mulch. You see where this is going?
Yup.
My foot teetered, my ankle twisted, and down I went. Like a big, clumsy bafoon.
I went straight down on my rear (thankfully it is well padded) in the middle of a huge crowd of people.
In a dress. Wearing one shoe.
Sure enough, I heard a resounding gasp, and I was surrounded by very kind, concerned strangers.
I blubbered out "I'm fine, it was my shoe!" and began laughing, and feeling my face burn with embarrassment. I quickly put on my shoe, and a gentlemen offered me his hand. He helped me up and a girl scooped up my purse and Bible for me, declaring that she has done that quite often. Everyone asked again if I was alright, and we walked into the church.
If the ground could have opened up and swallowed me, I would have been relieved.
Additionally, thanks to my tardiness, I had to go up to one of the balconies, nearly in the nosebleed section.
It was alright. I prayed and asked God to help me focus, and stop being so flustered. I enjoyed the worship and the sermon, took deep breaths, hoped that nobody remembered the fall, and was extra cautious on my sojourn back to my car.
Lessons learned:
1. Leave early.
2. Where cute, yet sensible shoes if I have to park far away.
3. Wear underwear that blends in with your clothes (check! I had a black dress on, with black undergarments!) Why? While not always eliminating the possible panty-gate exposure, it will lessen the shock value if it all blends together.
4. Don't fix a shoe in a crowd when it clearly can wait until you've made it to your destination.
5. Just laugh. Nothing was hurt (though I can feel my sprained ankle now), and it was pretty hilarious.
Today was just 'one of those days'. In a randomly funny way.
Oy.
