Write About Now

singled out

I’m usually fine with being single. I’d like to be married someday, but life is good and I’ve always been (too) independent, so I’m content on my own…..usually. This week was not one of those times.

Nope, didn’t see a cute couple holding hands. Didn’t watch a sappy movie. Didn’t even feel too stressed at the prospect of unpacking and setting up the new house by myself—actually, I enjoy doing this alone without a guy insisting, as one of my friends insists to his wife, that every wall be painted only white.

So, none of those things. Instead I had a glass jug fall on my head.

Thursday morning, while standing on a chair attempting to see if the vat I use for iced tea would fit into the top cabinet (answer: no), I lost my grip and it tipped forward, slamming into my right eye before hitting the ceramic tile and shattering.

Instantly I’m bent over at the waist, one hand pressed to my eye, bruises forming and blood dripping between my fingers, shards of glass everywhere, and no one here: no one to find a butterfly Band-aid so I won’t scar (my first concern, I admit); no one to deal with the mess; no one to advise if it’s worth a trip to the ER; no one to help me find out where the nearest hospital even is.

So I did what I always do: I took care of it myself. I stopped the bleeding and covered the cuts with bright green bandages featuring yellow cartoon giraffes (and made a mental note to buy some normal ones). I iced the bruises. I swept up the glass. I postponed my trip to the grocery so as not to frighten small children.

And I thought how nice it would be to have someone looking out for me now and then, even if it means too many white walls.

August 2, 2009 - Posted by Jennifer | life, men and women | , , | 3 Comments

3 Comments »

  1. Yeah…I’ve been there quite a bit.

    I think my realization came when I took a really bad tumble down the stairs. Thankfully I just had a few big bruises, but it made me realize that it would take DAYS for someone to realize I was laying there if anything happened.
    Sobering.

    But I wasn’t REALLY alone…and neither are you :)

    Comment by Lora | August 3, 2009 | Reply

  2. Ideal response from phantom hubby:
    “Here, honey, let me do that for you.” Thus avoiding shared scenario altogether.

    More likely response from actual husbanding experience:
    “That won’t fit up there.” (Walks out of room, only to hear breaking glass and screams of pain moments later.) “Now why’d you go and do that? I told you it wouldn’t fit. Now look at the mess you have to clean up.”

    “Do you think it’s okay or should I go to the ER and have a doctor look at it?”
    “ER? Do you know how long you’d be there and how much that would cost? You’ll be fine. Just ice it.”

    Yep, we’re good like that!

    Comment by Dan Lambert | August 3, 2009 | Reply

  3. i’m a fan of your fancy pants blog. been there. done that. i always have a person wherever i live. you know…someone that has an extra set of house keys, car keys, my mom’s number as well as vice versa, and most of all….is my person. Like Christina and Meredith on Grey’s. The person you have the ambulance guy call when you’re being transported because well…who the hell else are you going to call when your family lives out of town :)

    Comment by km | August 5, 2009 | Reply


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