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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A story about the day an inflatable obstacle course designed for small children kicked my ass


Imagine, if you, will this scene.

An elementary school gymnasium set up for Fun Day. There are three very cool inflatables inticing you to enter them. You have just painted a clown a.k.a. the school custodian. You are about to make approximately 200 hotdogs. There is excitement in the air. It is, afterall, the second to the last day of school.

After making up all the bagged lunches (bagged so the kids can eat outside), you hear these words. "Race you through the obstacle course."

You are hesitant at first. After all, your co-worker just ran a 5k. You, on the other hand, were winded taking the laundry up the steps last evening. You throw caution to the wind. After all, it's Fun Day and the kiddos will love it.

You and your co-worker gather at the starting gate. The gym teacher yells "Go". You take off, determined to beat her. You fly up the climbing wall and flip over the other side of it. You hear an odd noise but you don't care because you are WINNING. Your co-worker is stuck. She is slipping back down the climbing wall. You are elated. You are going to win!

You fumble your way through the stupid pillars, you dive through the unusally small tunnel and tumble out the other side all to the cheers of the 2nd graders!

As you stand in your socked foot, you realize the sound you heard earlier was the sound of your foot breaking. You sit at a lunch table and remove your sock. It is already becoming a nice shade of purple.

You do what any reasonable adult would do. You serve lunch and stay to face paint all the little kiddos in the afternoon. By the time dismissal rolls around, your foot no longer fills comfortable in your shoe. You stop by the nurse's office.

She tries not to chuckle at you as you recall the events that brought you there. She recommends an xray.

You take your kids to your friends house and get an xray. You friend tries unsuccessfully to conceal her laughter. The doctor tries not to chuckle at you as she relays that your foot is, indeed, fractured and that you need to follow up with an orthopedic specialist.

You are put in a ridiculously ugly shoe and given crutches.

Like any reasonable adult you take a Tylenol and go to your third graduation commencement of the week.

You wake up this morning after a very restless night and think that, perhaps, next Fun Day you will leave the inflatables to the kiddos.

8 random thoughts:

Anonymous said...

heheheh, thanx for the morning smile :)

Andrea said...

Ha! So brave of you!

kt moxie said...

I've heard those inflatables are more dangerous that they appear. I guess you just wanted to prove that point...

It's always good when you can laugh at yourself, right? Best wishes on a quick recovery.

Kristie Maynard said...

Sorry for your pain, but at least you won. right?!?!
This reminds me of the time I decided to show my kids how to use the pogo stick. After all, I used to hop on it for hours when I was a kid.
When my hubby turned around to see me flying through the air and landing on the concrete, he didn't think it was a great idea. Nothing got broken, except my pride and my belief that I wasn't really in the over 40s group and that I should still be able to hop around on that thing. Now I'm 55 and I still want to try it again, but I think my ortho surgeon wouldn't be so happy with me if I did.

septembermom said...

Oh no poor you! Hope you recover quickly. You are a good sport and those kids really appreciate all that you do. I'm sure of it. Enjoy the summer (hopefully accident free :)

Amanda said...

Ouch. This must have been so painful. It's amazing how you got everything done. I'd have rolled over and played dead.

I hope you will feel better soon.

Jenners said...

But you won!!! And that is what is important, right?

Jeez ... can't believe you broke your foot!!!!

Crystal said...

Oh no! HUGS!

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kisatrtle
I'm a 41 year old (gasp) freelance writer, school cafeteria manager, wife and mother. I have three children and one anxious and overweight beagle. I use my blog to make others laugh, to share some cool crafts, to document my lunchlady adventures and to lament about the challenges faced by us all on the journey called life. Thanks for visiting. Please leave some crack...um...I meant some comments.
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