January 20th each year is special and significant to me, even if no one else shares my sentiments. It's my new year! I receive birthday wishes and greetings, may go out to dinner with family and friends, and then the year officially begins for me ... psychologically. Mentally for me I have a second time on the 12-month calendar to begin a new year. January 1st is stage one where everyone is involved, then on the 20th it's all about me and how I'm going to proceed in a new year representative of my birth date.
This year was truly special and significant because my birthday begin on Martin Luther King Jr. Day! It was MLK Day of Service and I'd enjoyed participating in community service with students from my job and from the community all day. It was cold but beautiful. That evening, a wonderful group of friends and family gathered for a phenomenal meal at Smokin' Betty's in Center City Philadelphia because it was also Restaurant Week and I'd made a big deal about having my birthday dinner at a place none of us had ever been to before.
After an absolutely phenomenal night with people I love and appreciate, a major snow storm hit the Philadelphia area yet again for this terrible winter season. On January 21st I was scheduled to serve on jury duty, but was able to get out of it because of a previous attempt at rescheduling the date. I'd taken off of work. Instead of just going home the rest of the day and having free time to myself, I thought I would do "the right thing" by heading on in to work across the bridge over in Camden, NJ. My supervisor offered me a ride. The snow was coming down. By the time we'd gotten to the school and met up with the rest of our team for a meeting before prepping for our after school programs, the school district ordered an early dismissal for all schools because of the snow storm. We'd ended up leaving around 1:00 pm or so. A co-worker was gracious enough to take myself and another co-worker to south Philly. Traffic was extremely slow and it took us a very long time to carefully cross the Walt Whitman Bridge because there was hardly any visibility on the roads. I was dropped off at a Family Dollar so that I could purchase an umbrella to protect me in the storm until I got home. I'd waited over a half hour for the bus that would eventually drop me off two blocks away from my home. I was cute, but cold. I stood in the snow unable to complain about my situation. I knew that things could be worse and that not having my own vehicle is just a temporary status. So I waited patiently for the crowded bus with what seemed to hold a million wet and shivering cold passengers heading home early from work and school.
We'd finally arrived at my bus stop. While I was not the only person to get off of the bus, I was the last person. In fact, the driver hadn't noticed me at first and actually closed the back doors and proceeded up the street further toward a snowy intersection. "Back door, please!" A release and I was off. I was honestly a little distracted by an anxious attempt at stuffing my handbag with a few papers that I'd sat on top of on the bus. There had to be at least 8 feet of snow (I think that's what the news report was) because I could absolutely not find the sidewalk. You'd think the cars would help, but they were not perfectly aligned with the sidewalk or street. UGH!
Here's where my life changes! Not completely paying full attention to where I am stepping, I step, bump, and kick into the curb by accident. FALL! Now, what would have been a "salty" fall for any normal person ended up turning into something way more traumatic. ...
This year was truly special and significant because my birthday begin on Martin Luther King Jr. Day! It was MLK Day of Service and I'd enjoyed participating in community service with students from my job and from the community all day. It was cold but beautiful. That evening, a wonderful group of friends and family gathered for a phenomenal meal at Smokin' Betty's in Center City Philadelphia because it was also Restaurant Week and I'd made a big deal about having my birthday dinner at a place none of us had ever been to before.
After an absolutely phenomenal night with people I love and appreciate, a major snow storm hit the Philadelphia area yet again for this terrible winter season. On January 21st I was scheduled to serve on jury duty, but was able to get out of it because of a previous attempt at rescheduling the date. I'd taken off of work. Instead of just going home the rest of the day and having free time to myself, I thought I would do "the right thing" by heading on in to work across the bridge over in Camden, NJ. My supervisor offered me a ride. The snow was coming down. By the time we'd gotten to the school and met up with the rest of our team for a meeting before prepping for our after school programs, the school district ordered an early dismissal for all schools because of the snow storm. We'd ended up leaving around 1:00 pm or so. A co-worker was gracious enough to take myself and another co-worker to south Philly. Traffic was extremely slow and it took us a very long time to carefully cross the Walt Whitman Bridge because there was hardly any visibility on the roads. I was dropped off at a Family Dollar so that I could purchase an umbrella to protect me in the storm until I got home. I'd waited over a half hour for the bus that would eventually drop me off two blocks away from my home. I was cute, but cold. I stood in the snow unable to complain about my situation. I knew that things could be worse and that not having my own vehicle is just a temporary status. So I waited patiently for the crowded bus with what seemed to hold a million wet and shivering cold passengers heading home early from work and school.
We'd finally arrived at my bus stop. While I was not the only person to get off of the bus, I was the last person. In fact, the driver hadn't noticed me at first and actually closed the back doors and proceeded up the street further toward a snowy intersection. "Back door, please!" A release and I was off. I was honestly a little distracted by an anxious attempt at stuffing my handbag with a few papers that I'd sat on top of on the bus. There had to be at least 8 feet of snow (I think that's what the news report was) because I could absolutely not find the sidewalk. You'd think the cars would help, but they were not perfectly aligned with the sidewalk or street. UGH!
Here's where my life changes! Not completely paying full attention to where I am stepping, I step, bump, and kick into the curb by accident. FALL! Now, what would have been a "salty" fall for any normal person ended up turning into something way more traumatic. ...
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