I’ve been tripping for the past four years.

Not the psychedelic, drug-type tripping but the disabling, gait-type tripping that happens when you have MS.

For the past three and a half years I’ve been anticipating the fall which means parts of my body tense up with every step I take. My left shoulder is usually raised and tense followed by an always bent elbow, ready to break (probably literally and figuratively) my fall.  If on the off chance I do hobble around in a completely relaxed manner, usually an almost overturned ankle or my catching the edge of a carpet and flying forward gets my attention and I go back to being internally and muscularly tense and alert.

I’ve tripped in Target, Kohls, Wegmans, parking lots, at a variety of airports, outside on the sidewalk, and about a million times inside my home. But I always figure out a way to stay upright.

Then it finally happened. I fell in my foyer, making contact with both knees and my left wrist onto an area rug, covered hardwood floor. The good news: My head and face didn’t kiss blacktop or gravel (my number one fear) and beside some soreness, no injuries occurred.

Remember:

I’m glad it happened. Maybe now that I’ve finally fallen and unlike the Life Alert lady, was able to get up – I wont be so tensely anticipating face planting and can worry about other, more important things like Donald Trump becoming our next President.