My Rudolph Moment

Kayla (Me), Alexis, Aunt Jeannie, Tristan (left to right)
Pictured above is a family outing of put-put where my nose is scabbed over due to the concrete scraping the skin off the tip of my nose.

       
       As a kid I used to follow my cousin Alexis around like I was a lost puppy that was starving and begging for food. Needless to say, I looked up to her and wanted to be just like her as a kid. Something you may not know about me that I think is fair to share at this point is that I am very clumsy and uncoordinated. Most girls think it’s cute to say they are clumsy, for what reason I do not know. Trust me when I tell you that there is nothing cute about my clumsiness. Funny, yes. Sad, yes. Cute, sadly not. 

       Myrtle Beach was always the source of my injury as a child. Every single year we would pack up as a family and take a vacation it was guaranteed that an outcome of the trip would include me being injured. Let’s take a walk down memory lane where this evil tradition began. 

       Staying at the Camelot hotel was a dream there was a lazy river, two huge pools (one indoor and one outdoor), and a hot tub. Alexis and I would take turns watching each other jump in the ice-cold pool after sitting in the hot tub because we were young and this happened to be entertaining. I will never forget the piercing feeling of my body being surrounded by pure cold water, it was horrible every time. After a while we began to become bored of this game and moved onto something a little riskier. 

       There happened to be concrete islands all throughout the indoor pool where you could climb up and sit if you wanted a break from the water. When Alexis saw the islands she instantly jumped from the edge of the pool to the closest island in the pool. She was tall, coordinated, and athletic; I was short, clumsy, and didn’t have an athletic bone in my body. Inspired by how she so gracefully jumped from the edge of the pool to the island, making it look so easy I decided to give it a try myself. 

       As I ran I was filled with adrenaline in that moment, I jumped, and right as I was about to make it, or so I thought, one toe and then my whole face hit the island as I slipped down the concrete to my impending doom. I tried so hard to stay under the water for as long as I could so no one would hear or see me screaming and crying. When the worst of it was over I came up, defeated, while my cousin was literally dying of a laugh attack. This is just the first of my many injury stories and where it all began.