I didn't laugh this time - well, sort of...

Many of you are very aware of my heartless tendency to laugh at other's misfortunates when it comes to spills and tumbles, or minor things like firecrackers in toilets, etc.

So this instance was one my college roomies would be proud of me. Yes, two of them were on the receiving end of my hysterical laughter. The one after her fabulous swan dive into the side of a house when she tripped over the step. It was the most graceful trip I have witnessed still to this day! The poor girl suffered a concussion and broken toe and I had the gall to laugh so hard I literally fell to the ground with tears streaming out my eyes! My other poor sweet friend was beaned in the head - by MY shoe flipping heel over toe the length of the hall after I just wanted to kick it off my foot after standing in them for so long during our concert. Yes, it was like a Nat'l Lampoon's take on James Bond action shot! The spiked heel hit her perfectly square in the back of the head! Couldn't have been a more perfectly timed action shot than that!

And J even experienced that awful feeling of, "I'm hurting! And you're laughing??!!" when he got the pony bead stuck so far up his nostril (aged 3) that I had to take him to the emergency room to have it removed. (It was a Sunday and we didn't have any Instacares, yet). Yes, he got spurts of giggles and the like on the drive over. The kid's so cute though, that even despite his pain he had to let out a little laugh every once in a while, too, at the image of himself going into the Emergency Room all because a bead was stuck up his nose!

So, yes, Alex, a fellow cast member did not get the full brunt of my heartless guffaws. Poor guy experienced many others' though. Maybe it is the mothering instinct in me at my more mature age that allowed me respite from my typical response in such as case as his. I think of the full cast, we were only missing 4 people of the 25 or so. The kid is left alone on stage - so everyone is watching... he proceeds to make his exit - this time the "rock" prop is in his pathway so he steps on it, rather than around it. Not a problem there. But his toe catches and he proceeds to do a most acrobatic tumble and body roll! I think it was probably slow mo for all of us! Just imagine the dead silence as the room focuses on Alex landing on his head, his body following the force of momentum with his legs following suit, straight up over the rest of himself. He came to rest on his back, and probably about 15 people had immediately converged upon him. He quickly sat up reassuring everyone he was okay. As the guy next to me was spewing his gut wrenching peals of laughter, I actually only giggled intermittently in between the absolute horror I could feel on my face - because my eyes had been focused on his poor neck being stretched out disproportionately to the natural length as his legs arced over his trunk. I was giggling because I also saw his eyes wide open in quite a cartoon-like manner! AND I only allowed myself the giggling after he sat up and said he was okay.

When I saw him at the gym later on that evening I did recommend that he get a good massage, while at the same time prompting him to show up to rehearsal wearing a neck brace... just for the laugh! I'm just waiting for my moment of glory of doing something equally clutzatic! I'll probably do mine during the performance though, since that's my typical forte! We shall just have to wait and see! Hopefully when I jump out a window my skirt won't catch on antyhing or I don't slip off the rocks when I go climbing them, etc. We shall see, wont' we! In just one month's time we will be putting on our last 2 productions! Sigh!