Slippery When Wet

I have to share one of those traumatic stories that I'll one day be able to look back on and laugh ~ hopefully. Every week, my next door neighbor Lizzie and I spend a morning at Starbucks, enjoying some much needed adult conversation while Reagan is at preschool (Avery comes with us). I look forward to catching up with Lizzie each week, while drinking my Grande Skim Chai Latte, no foam, with 2 Sweet & Lows. We placed our order and went up the few steps to see if our usual table was free, but our local Starbucks in Westwood was rather busy this morning, so we were forced to find another table on the main level.

As usual, I had my hands full: on my left arm, I was holding my purse and the diaper bag, while holding the change from the cashier in my hand with the umbrella (it was raining outside); in my right hand, I was holding Avery in the car seat. I was wearing my Nike sneakers which were obviously wet from the rain. This location of Starbucks has tile floors throughout, even on the stairs. I quickly discovered that wet sneakers and wet tile stairs don't mix well.

I slipped rather quickly while going down that first step, yet I remember it like it happened in slow motion ... all I could think about was setting Avery down safely. All my energy (and I guess my motherly instincts) went toward Avery, as I did my best to lower her car seat as close to the floor as possible before letting go. She landed safely, although with a bit of a jolt, as I came crashing down onto the edge of the step. I had no time to catch myself or brace myself for the impact. I landed extremely hard on the edge of the sharp tiled step, right on my tushy. Ouch! I could hardly move, I was in so much pain. One would think that all the extra padding back there would have protected me a bit more!

Anyway, I made quite a spectacle of myself. When I looked over at Avery, she just gave me a big grin, as if she were thinking, "that was exciting, let's do it again!"

I have a feeling my backside will be hurting for quite a while ...

UPDATE: 03/07/08 This afternoon, I left the kids with John and met my friend Meredith at this same Starbucks ... she had left her kids with a babysitter so she could get out for some adult time. Once again, it was raining, so John warned me to careful on my way out the door :) Anyway, the manager who had witnessed my fall was working today and he gave me my Chai latte for free! Good thing I ordered a Venti instead of a Grande today!!! For those of you who aren't familiar with the stupid Starbucks size lingo, a Venti is a large and a Grande is a medium and a Tall is a small. Go figure. There's actually a REALLY funny commercial on TV right now for Dunkin Donuts ... I just went to their website and it came right up, so check it out: https://dunkindonuts.com/ A woman walks up to the counter of a coffee shop and orders a large and the employee keeps saying, "you mean 'deici'? I think it's amusing, since the size names at Starbucks are silly to me.