Thursday, September 11, 2014

Story 19 // Slippery When Wet

Since last week's story was a little heavy, I wanted to lighten things up this week. Also, because of today's significance, I think a story located in Boston is appropriate. There were so many American flags around town, it was really cool to see. Here is a story about an embarrassing moment in my life, I hope you can get a good laugh out of it! 

When I was in college I was a part of a performance troupe that toured around the US doing improv and scripted skits about socially relevant issues such as sexual assault, homophobia, and racism. Despite the heavy topics, it was a very rewarding experience and a great way to travel on the cheap too. I visited some pretty cool places, including the great city of Boston.

I had never been (well, maybe when I was a kid, but who remembers where they went when they were 2?!) and I was very excited to check it out. Our instructor/teacher always planned an extra day after each performance so we could check out the current town we were in and take a few tours. I had my new skinny jeans on (pastel pink, to be exact), and was ready to learn some local history. We started walking around, checking out neighborhoods, markets, and taking a Duck Tour (half on land, half in water, and the transition from land to water freaked me out!). The town reminded me of London, which makes sense, and also made me miss Europe. The architecture was so amazing, I kept finding myself looking up at the buildings with each block we went down. The rain came down pretty hard throughout the day, but that didn't stop us from exploring. After all, my skinny jeans were keeping me warm! Well, that and my huge rain coat.

We took the Freedom Trail (it's really cool, check it out HERE) all the way to this bridge, and right before we were going to cross it, we saw this cemetery on a hill (I think it was the Copp's Hill Burying Ground HERE), and decided to check it out to see some old tomb stones. Everyone branched off to try to find the oldest one. It was creepy and cool at the same time. The rain might of added to the eeriness too. (There's so much history in every square inch of Boston--I love that city! I highly recommend walking this trail)

As I started to read a couple of names and dates, I saw a teammate of mine slide down a wooden ramp that led to another level, kind of like he had skates on his shoes. The ramp looked damp and old, with a little bit of moss covering it's surface. He was sliding down it, then hopping up the small wall to the level above and sliding down it again. It looked like a lot of fun, so of course I decided to join him.

The ramp was muddy and weathered, but stoic, since it had probably seen centuries of burials. I remember thinking this might be bad luck or something, since it's in a cemetery and all. But I brushed off that thought and got ready to slide. My teammate told me to lean towards the bottom of the ramp, just like snowboarding. I thought I was an alright snowboarder, not amazing or anything, but I knew how to go down a hill. So I got my feet ready to slide, leaned into the decline....then all of a sudden...

BAM!!

Both my feet flew up into the air, and I landed flat on my butt. If I was trying for the perfect wipeout, this was it. I hit that ramp hard, right on my left butt cheek. My skinnies were done for, having the most perfect black/brown spot now on them. My teammate attempted to help me up, but he was laughing too much to be of any use. I was shocked that I slipped so quickly, embarrassed that I would have this mark on my ass for the rest of the day (it was barely noon), and amused a little bit. How did I think this was going to pan out for me? Really, this was meant to be all along and I just had to go with it.

So the rest of the day I endured millions of jokes by the rest of my team, and it turned out to be a really fun day.

PS: I had a ginormous bruise from this! Double embarrassing...


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