"Don't fall down!"

A man slips and falls. Hilarity ensues. That's how it works in comedies and in the movies. 

In "real life" a man slips on the icy porch, his frozen-solid boots lose their grip, slide forward, his weight shifts, his coffee cup flies from his gloved hand into the bush on the side of the stairway, and he crashes down with a sickening thud, finds himself laid out on the stairs. 

There is a moment of stunned silence. "What happened?" A simple fall. Then there is the damage assessment. "Did I break anything?" Guess not. A sore lower back. A sore wrist. What is that word? Contusion - "injury to tissue usually without laceration : bruise."

Dodged a bullet. Amazing. No broken bones. No broken spirit. Just cold, damn cold, and sore and really, come on how stupid, how silly, how ridiculous. How cliche.

A reminder of something. What exactly? Every step counts. Danger any moment. You must always "watch yourself," be on guard. Hilarity and "tragedy" always trailing us. 

Must always remember - "Don't fall down!"