So Monday night, true to form as the least graceful person (see earlier note re: my dancing genes) on the planet right now, I tripped on my parents' front stoop and hit my knees on the concrete. Here are two observations about the incident: 1.) pants vs. concrete: concrete will leave the pants crying for mercy every time, shredded and dejected, and 2.) skinned knees hurt a lot more than I remember.

Of course, as a child, skinned knees are a regular occurrence, so for some reason, I was taken by surprise that they HURT. And I was, of course, more worried about things like breaking my kneecaps and tearing ligaments (the realities of adulthood bring many more worries...never worried about those injuries as a kid), so after I assured myself that those were not, in fact, the case, I turned my attention to my bloody joints. Fortunately, I called my sister, who calmed my hysterical rant about hydrogen peroxide, and talked to her husband, a fireman/volunteer emergency medical person whose response was, "Tell her to wash it with soap and water, throw some antibiotic ointment on it, and cover it with a band-aid. She'll be fine." She relayed the message, I followed his advice, and bada bing, on my way to recovery.

Which is not to say that it doesn't hurt. A little sting-happy, those open wounds. And my knees are all bruised up, so they look lovely. Good thing I gave up on that career as a knee model! And my pride is a little injured, being that I am 28 years old and far too old to be skinning my knees (or falling repeatedly). I find that one gets very little sympathy as an adult with skinned knees, whereas there was lots of sympathy when I was a child with a boo-boo. Being an adult is about cultivating toughness, and I think I need to work on that. How do you work on being tough? Not crying when you skin your knees? Should I force injuries upon myself more often to build up a resistance to the pain? Should I teach myself meditation exercises to avoid feeling the pain? Should I enroll in a hockey or football league and get beat up on a regular basis? How does one become tough?

Anyway, because I am still, in fact, a wuss, I wanted to warn you, my faithful and lovely readers (of which there are 2), that those concrete steps can be hazardous to your health. So apply caution now, and you will avoid applying band-aids later. This is my new credo.