We have a delightful Aussie term for falling over - 'stack it.' I recently 'stacked it' while going for an early morning jalk (my own term for a walk that is occasionally interspersed with jogging at comfortable intervals). It wasn't my most spectacular stack but it was a very public one. Early morning commuters traveling down a busy Toronto street witnessed me trip on the sidewalk, commando role across the pavement and land superman style flat on my face. I then confused them all by rolling onto my side laughing, too embarrassed to lift my head up or even address anyone who was stopping to help. It wasn't until I was around the corner, away from the public eye, that I vented my pain and took stock of my jalking wounds.
This was not my first public or most humiliating fall. In fact when I think about it I have been falling, stumbling and tripping for most of my life. In reflection I feel there could be a familial predisposition to my tumbling ability. My Mum was in a horrific motor vehicle accident when I was a small child that left her with a permanently straight leg. I can recall quite a few occasions of my mother falling while we were at the town library, out shopping or in the park. On most occasions I would here the fall and then come around the corner to find my Mum sitting in a shopping aisle, groceries on the floor around her, laughing so much she had tears running down her face. So actually I was groomed for stacking it in public places.
The majority of my 'stacks' have simply been my lack of attention to the changing level, condition or undulation of the path I was treading, rather than any physical disability. And the embarrassment from falling over nothing or tripping and exposing myself is always covered by a good giggle. Which is actually a good life lesson, a lesson my mother unknowingly shared with me. That the small trips, even some of the fairly decent stacks need not be major drama's or devastating deal breakers for a good life or future success. We need to learn to laugh, to accept the help that is offered to us and get back up to jalk another day.
