Murphy's Law

It was one of those cases where something ominous was said and we forgot to knock on wood. It's not that we expected anything bad to happen but that may just have been our downfall.

Yesterday, Josie really wanted to go ice skating. Now, this is generally not a problem and it wasn't today. The plan was that Josie, Nancy, Andrew and I would go ice skating while my mother tended Rachel. Preparations made, we went to Nancy's house, visited a little and prepared to embark on our ice skating adventure. Moments prior to leaving, Mom said, in a joking attitude, something to the effect of, "Now I don't want you to break a leg or an arm." We joked about this for a while, nonplussed. Not once did we think to knock on wood.

Well, skating was fun. Nancy and I skated circles around Josie and Andrew at first and then got to the business of helping them. It was the first time Josie had been ice skating since we moved to Utah and even then, she only remembers being pushed around in the stroller as a child on the ice (something which ironically is banned at Peaks Ice Arena). She did remarkably well and by the end of the afternoon was looking like a pro. I even taught her to "snowplow" to come to a stop. It was fun.

Unfortunately, the glee of skating came to a sudden and abrupt halt for some of our party within half an hour of arriving (minus the fifteen minutes it took the zamboni to putt around the rink). Nancy, skating around the rink by herself, was suddenly cut off by a rather large woman, who cut in from a weird angle and stopped directly in front of her. Now, the first thing Nancy had said to me as we entered the ice was, "I still don't know how to stop." Needless to say, she did not learn in half an hour. When you have a one-hundred-seventy or so, pound woman against Nancy, there isn't going to be much of a fight. The woman hardly budged (she may have felt something mind you). Nancy flew backwards, landing on her back with her arm bent under her at a funny angle.

The EMTs tended to Nancy and Andrew stayed with her to help her ice her arm. Josie and I skated more and we finally returned home. We weren't sure if Nancy had broken it or not. Arriving home, we found a thoroughly happy Rachel (happy for her mommy to return home) and an equally joyous Grammy (happy for Rachel's mommy to return so that she'd stop bawling like she had been). Our first words were, "Remember when you told us not to break a leg...."

So, that was our great adventure. Nancy and Andrew went to the ER instead of going to their New Years party. I went to another New Years party since I wasn't going to Nancy's anymore. It was quite the eventful afternoon.

The moral of this story: Don't forget to knock on wood or don't run into ladies that are substantially larger than yourself.

(Disclaimer: Thankfully, Nancy's arm luckily was not broken. She only had contusions. Rachel will not have the discomfort of laying on a hard cast whilst trying to eat and Nancy will be able to continue her blogging and Rachel-tending, as usual....although not without discomfort for a few days.)