Some people worry about the dangers they may face when they
travel, and so they seldom go on vacation, preferring to spend all their free
time at home. Some people are afraid of
flying, which limits them to land-based travel, and the destinations they can
reach in their available free time. I’ve
never particularly feared leaving home, or flying. My philosophy is that we all face dangers
every minute of our lives, and it’s usually the dangers that seem the most
innocuous that end up causing us the most pain.
On our weekend trip to Lancaster, we stayed in a plush
hotel, and had a comfortable room. A
dividing wall separated a living room area from the bedroom. The placement of the wall left a narrow
walkway on each side of the bed. At the
foot of the bed sat a dresser, atop which rested a TV. As our bedroom at home is small, I’m using to
getting up at night, navigating narrow walkways, and making several turns,
until I reach the bathroom. But this was
a bedroom I was unfamiliar with.
I did fine our first night in the hotel. But after our tour of Edwards Air Force Base,
the first time I got up that night, I walked forward a few feet, and BAM! I crashed into the dresser. I had injured the middle toe on my right foot
a few weeks back, and it had taken awhile to heal. Well, I had just slammed my right foot into
the dresser! So, after sitting on the
edge of the bed for a few minutes (and having awakened my wife from the
impact), I turned on the light, walked to the fridge, and got a cold soda can
to hold against my foot. We were
planning on hiking the next day, and all I needed was for my toe to start
hurting and swelling up again! My wife
felt more attention was necessary, so she got dressed and left the room. When she returned with the ice bucket, she
made a cold compress using a few ice cubes in a plastic bag. I held it against my foot for a while, and my
wife gave me the small flashlight she had brought with her, in case I needed to
get up again. Then we turned off the
light and went to sleep.
The second time I got up that night, my first thought was:
avoid the dresser. So I rolled out of bed, placed my feet on the carpet...and slammed into the divider wall. Not only that, but the light switch dug into my scalp as I rose. While my head ached, the overhead light didn’t come on, so I couldn’t have hit the switch with much
force. Nevertheless, my wife heard the
impact, turned on the light, and asked me what had happened. “Nothing,” I told her. Then I lowered the hand clutching my head,
and saw blood on my fingers.
At least the ice in the bucket hadn’t all melted yet!
The following night, I slept more soundly, and only had to
get up once. Nevertheless, that time I
remembered to use the flashlight before I even lifted the covers, and thus sustained
no further injury. Forget about car- and
plane-crashes: the real dangers of modern travel include such terrors as
dressers and light switches!
Dragon Dave
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