Not that Lionel Ritchie song. I think he was dancin' in the ceiling. Maybe after he dances, he falls. But I fell. I good 5 or 6 feet. Yesterday at 7am or thereabouts the hook in the ceiling that had previously bore my weight during my home gym acrobatics for the last few years gave way, sending me crashing to earth, or at least the loft floor.
I often thought about what would happen if it did let loose. Would I die? unlikely. People fall from 5-6 feet all the time and they don't usually die. Maybe if I landed on my head, vertically, pile-driver style, I could die. Or maybe if I landed on some rocks or into a pit of tigers. But then I am dead, and so be it. Maybe I would be wounded, paralyzed. That would really really, suck. I was genuinely afraid of that. But then again, people crash around like that all the time - it's called sports. Hockey, football, MMA, racing they all see guys crashing every day. It's rare. I took my chances. And if something happened, well I wasn't naked or hanging out with reprobates. No one would say anything bad about it.
But then it did happen. I was doing this sort of inverted pull-up when there was a loud SNAP. I saw the hook go flying out of the ceiling. I saw the loops of the rock rings go slack. I saw the ceiling sort of twist and invert. I felt a big pain in my heel as I hit something on my way down then there was a really loud BANG. M happened to be watching. I knew she wasn't going to enjoy this. I think that was my first thought. Then I made sure I could breathe. Check. Moved my hands, then my feet, then my head/neck. Nothing seemed to hurt yet. My lower back was starting to get numb, so I knew I had landed there. And maybe my head? It was ringing. I could roll over maybe. I didn't hear any crack or snapping, so I didn't believe anything was broken. I rolled over, took a few more deep breaths and.. nothing. I was fine. The first thing I thought was "Wow.... that was F*****G CRAZY" and I started laughing really hard. I really haven't felt that great in a while. The adrenaline was incredible.
Back when I skied, in the last few years I had a number of occasions when I thought was going to die or at least really injure myself. I remember small details about all of these crashes, even though they probably happened in a second or two, the memories go on forever. The ceiling fall is like that. I didn't have my life flash before me, but I definitely had a lot of thought going on in a very short burst. I suppose it is good that I don't have these life threatening events too often. On the one hand every single last one of them burns like a hot coal in my mind, a more vivid memory than almost anything else. But on the other, I'd hate for the pursuit of one to be the last thing I do. So I will stick to more mundane stuff for now. Until I turn 44 and start having a midlife crisis. The I'll probably start running with the bulls or skydiving naked from an aeroplace... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtkT_jkJHc0&feature=player_detailpage#t=27s
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