When I was about fifteen or sixteen, I was on AOL telling Ana, my online BFF at the time, that I had just broken my foot or sprained my ankle. I went on to tell her how, especially for the three years prior to that, I had a tendency to be really clumsy. I told her of the seventh grade sprained ankle spree. I think I even told her about how I had gotten so clumsy in eighth grade that I was kept out of my P.E. class and had to gain credits that year by aiding for a special ed P.E. class in the elementary school attached to my middle school.
After expounding on my clumsy behavior and exhibiting a tendency towards the ditzy side, Ana proclaimed me the Dutz or Dutzy. The nickname kind of stuck with some folks online and with quite a few off. (Ana was also the person who gave me the nickname of Janers.) I even named my website “The Dutz Land” back when I received the nickname, so in 1999/2000.
Anyway, what I’m getting at, is that bumping into things, falling down, getting burns, etc. is just a part of who I am. We used to have an armchair in our house that had been in the same spot since before my parents and I moved in with Dadada. From the time I was quite young, I would always manage to catch my smallest toe on one side or the other (depending on which I side I was walking past). Also, I’ve been coming to this house (the one I live in and own) since I was a baby and I have consistently bumped into the corner where the living room & hallway meet. I bump into doors, shut my hands in car doors, step in holes that I know exist, trip over my toes (or jeans if I’m wearing long ones), fall out of chairs/off beds or couches, kick things while I sleep, bang my head into desks (while sleeping), etc. In third grade, I even almost got frostbite because I ended up stepping through a sheet of ice in a storm drain and my foot got soaked and, subsequently, very blue and cold as I tried to get help in getting back home.
So, when I mention that I burned my finger or have a paper cut or anything like that, it might seem like a bad thing, but it’s something that I have grown quite accustomed to. Honestly, if I got through a week without getting burned, cut, bruised, banged up, or falling, I think I might have a panic attack. It’s just something that I think of as being part of my life and something that will probably always be a part of my life (given the clumsiness of my family in general and my hand-to-eye coordination issues as a kid). But I do appreciate the concern when things like that happen.
P She doesn’t want me to have to stay at school alone for two hours because she’ll have to drop me off at 2 so she can go to work…So, now I may have to go to school at 8 in the morning. That really doesn’t thrill me, because it’s about an hour from my house to the campus. NO FUN!!!!!