if i had a dollar for every time i fell in a manhole… i’d have a dollar.

Yup. I fell into a manhole a few days
ago. It happened as I was mowing the grass at the lovely Casa Shalom,
the ministry we are working/living at this month. A few of you
reading this will understand, but there is one very important thing
to remember when mowing the lawn: straight lines. As most kids were
starting to find excuses to quit mowing the lawn when they were
younger I was itching at a chance to do it for the first time. My dad
is an amazing landscaper, and we have always had nice green lawns,
with intricate flower beds, and stone tree rings filled with flowers
around all trees, which makes for quite the maze while mowing the
grass… and on top of that a yard just looks that much nicer if the
stripes from the lawn mower are straight as an arrow. So finally
around the age of 12 or so I got to start mowing the lawn, the
backyard first of course to fine tune my straight lines. And then I
graduated to the front, and could pretty well keep straight lines
even when maneuvering around various landscaping obstacles. Then in
high school I started my own lawn mowing biz to make some money, and
mowed around 10 yards a week, all with as straight as lines as I
could do. All this to say, while it has been awhile since I have
touched a lawn mower, I still remember what’s important when I jump
behind one.

 

 

So that is a huge background intro into
why I fell into a manhole. Bottom line is this: I was concentrating
real hard on keeping the lines straight, and as I was maneuvering
around the old concrete slab with the manhole in the middle I was so
focused on not messing up my stripes that I stepped on the edge of
the the lid, which was only halfway on, and fell straight down,
catching myself with my hip and elbow. Don’t worry, I am of course
super strong, and was not injured. The comical part for me was that
after I fell in and realized what had happened, and that I wasn’t
hurt, I started yelling as if I was in the worst pain of my life, and
had just had my leg removed by a rusty old lawn mower. Why you ask
did I do this? Because Christi was standing next to me and I saw a
look of sheer terror on her face as I was falling, and wanted to see
how she would react. ha. It was worth it, she sprinted over to me
faster then I think I have ever seen her move, and was simultaneously
trying to turn off the mower and see if I was okay, and not have a
panic attack from what I could tell. Meanwhile baby-face Jeff
Mitchell was also standing nearby, closer than Christi, and he just
meandered over to watch, claiming later that he knew I was fine.
Thanks Jeff and Christi, one for your comedic, yet loving show of
terror, and the other for your manly lack of concern, although deep
down I know you were scared for my life.