Merrily Rolling Home

I need to tell a little story before I forget it.

I went to the eye doctor today and received a clean bill of health: no more virus attacking my cornea. But they dilated my eyes. Those slip-behind-your-glasses-sun-shades they hand out took care of the glare when I went outside.

On the way home, I called my mom to share the good news. When I got home, it was time to take Abbie for her walk (I was at the eye doctor’s office from 11:20 AM to after 1:00 PM). I was still on the phone with my mom, sharing good news and bad, listening to her good news, and so on. So she went on the walk with Abbie and me, virtually.

Abbie doesn’t like that too much, but what can she do about it? Not much. We went on our usual route, which amazingly did not result in me getting pulled into the tree at the bottom of this very steep, but short, incline that leads from the apartment complex into the woods.

After awhile, we went back up to the complex. By this time in the conversation, I was reporting the latest aggravation from the divorce proceedings. I was pretty agitated and animated, but I was paying attention to where I was walking. However, my vision was very blurry from the dilation, so I couldn’t find the path back up. It’s not that big a problem because there is not that much undergrowth in that part of the woods.

Because I wasn’t on the usual path, I ended up a bit to the right of the convenient but steep incline. It has stones in it that work like stairs, so it is fairly easy to negotiate. There is also a flexible drainage pipe that runs along that area so it doesn’t get too damp and slippery.

Abbie scrambled up the hill with no trouble—must be those great retriever-style paw pads. I, however, slipped and slid until I ended up rolling down the hill backwards. I still had my phone in one hand, and the leash was over my wrist. Between Abbie’s weight on the end of the leash and my Taekwondo fall training, I did not roll into a tree.

Since I was still on the phone with my mom and out of breath from the rolling, I said, “whoops” into the phone.

It’s a gorgeous day here. A little cooler than yesterday, but bright and sunny with a beautiful blue sky. This morning, I heard birds when I took Abbie out, and I could smell spring in the air, even though it’s still February. Who could be upset about slipping and rolling down a hill backwards on such a beautiful day? I cracked up. I was still laughing when I got to my apartment at the top of the stairs on the third floor.