Yesterday it was raining cats and dogs (as usual–and I don’t even live in Seattle), and as I was going out the front door, my foot slipped on the wet doorstep, my ankle buckled, and I was launched into a swan-dive to the cement sidewalk.
It could’ve been very nasty, but I escaped with a scraped knee and nothing else. Obviously God was watching over me. But I must also thank my judo instructors of long ago, who drilled us incessantly in the art of taking a fall. After all, if you can’t fall without getting hurt, you really can’t practice judo. Even after all this time, I have retained this skill. I might’ve wound up like Humpty-Dumpty, otherwise. Certainly I would recommend this training to everyone!
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for the signal to start writing Book #6 of my Bell Mountain Series. Our artist, Kirk Douponce, says he’s ready to start work on the cover of #4, The Last Banquet, and I’m in the process of proofreading it. Hopefully it’ll be ready for publication by the end of this summer; and then we can all get to work on #5, The Fugitive Prince… provided I continue to survive any additional falls I might take.
This is great! It would be a very helpful lesson for school kids in their phys ed classes.
When we were kids, Dad would take us to the huge roller skating rink in Cleveland, Ohio. He had been a paratrooper in WWII and he also told us about how to fall, which was very useful for roller skating!
Back when I was actually taking the judo lessons, I was riding my bike down a steep hill one day when… the front wheel came off! I went flying over the handlebars, and by God’s grace executed a perfect rolling fall and didn’t get hurt. Too bad my instructors didn’t see it–I might’ve gotten promoted.
But on the whole, I hope I don’t have to use this skill too often.
Back when I was actually taking the judo lessons, I was riding my bike down a steep hill one day when… the front wheel came off! I went flying over the handlebars and executed a perfect rolling fall, and didn’t get hurt. Too bad my instructors didn’t see it–I might’ve gotten a promotion.