Chalk It Up

The other day I was walking to school, I was in a little bit of a hurry because it was cold out and I wanted to get inside as soon as possible. I decided to cut across the parking lot in order to get to the building I was headed for because it would be faster in the long run. So, I stepped off of the plowed, ice-less sidewalk into the snow-packed-down-and-turned-into-an-iceskating-rink parking lot. I wasn't really worried about slipping because I had begun to slip numerous times in the previous days and had always been able to regain my balance. So I continued to hurry on with confidence. And then before I knew what was happening, BOTH of my feet were in the air and my arms were flailing madly. I came down hard on my left side in the lower back/upper butt region and had I not had a backpack on I probably would have hit my head on the asphalt. I just laid there for a second or two, trying to understand what had happened and trying to figure out if I had broken anything. When I discovered that all bones were intact and in their proper places I uttered a choice word or two and hopped up as fast as I could (it all happened within just a few seconds). I quickly looked around and didn't anyone, so I continued to hurry on, trying not to cry, and with a little more caution. After I had thought about it for a few minutes I had to laugh at myself and hoped that someone saw me slip and was getting a good laugh out of it, too. And I was also glad that I landed the way I did because it could have gone very, very badly had I landed any other way. Just another reason why winter is not my season!