TIMBER!!!

Have you ever fallen at school? I don't mean trip and stumble a little, I mean a full on nose dive. Well now I can say that I have! Woo hoo!!!

So I'm not teaching yet, I don't start until next week, but I have hours to use for the first week of school. I figured, rather than let them go to waste, I can use them for a good cause, like helping out in the office. And it never hurts to make the school secretaries love you. ;)

Anyways, there I was, being an awesome helper, and I was helping put together all of the parent homework that needs to go home on the first day (free/reduced lunch applications, lunch menu, emergency contact cards, etc.). The secretaries asked if I could deliver these bundles of joy to the teachers rather than just putting them in their mailboxes because then they'd be more inclined to send them home, so I said "Sure!" That was the first mistake...

I got all set up with my library rolly cart (which is a little lower than chest high on me), with my 24 sets of paperwork all ready to tromp around campus and deliver everything. (We have a large, park-like, beautiful outdoor campus. This is very nice except when you have to tromp all over it with a bunch of stuff. Then it's a pain.)

As I was making my way through the campus, I found that my papers were flying all over the place. And the last thing that I wanted to do was loose all my papers and have to remake all my beautiful stacks of 35, so I was doing my best to hold them down with my arms, while still propelling forward. This was the second mistake...

I came upon the first graders as they were lining up to go to their behavior assembly before their first recess, so I waited for them to get going, then was pushing my cart behind them. The teacher had just stopped and was facing backwards towards me (with the class all facing forward looking at her) when my cart caught a bad crack in the sidewalk, and it was obvious to me that I was going down.

I was pressed right up against my cart, and when it started to tip over, there was no bailing. Plus, I would have lost my stacks of papers!!! So I tipped right over with the cart, and landed laying on top of it. The first grade teacher yelled to her class to stop right where they were and came running to help me, but I was fine! I have to say it was one of the more graceful things I've ever done. Granted I had 33 first graders all staring at me like they thought I was going to die, but it was graceful none-the-less.

And the best part....

I managed to save my stacks of papers!!!

Huzzah!!!

Later assessment of the damage shows that I have a bruised shin (from pressing against the cart), a sore neck (from bracing for impact), and a bruised ego (from being gawked at by 6 year olds). Overall, not too bad.

I'm sure that there as a third mistake somewhere in my process, but I can't pinpoint it. I will say that I managed to make the rest of my deliveries without any other incidents. And then I finished labeling my recorders, cleaned up all the trash around my room, and figured out the last few things I need to do before Tuesday. Yay!