Sounds odd, I know, but let me explain. I really did wipeout, slipping down a carpeted stairway as I carried a cooler of food and drinks that had been put together to reduce our urge to eat out, and to save a few bucks.

I might have mentioned in past blogs that I have arthritis in my knees but,just in case I haven’t,well, I’ve got arthritis in both knees. As a result, flexibility is very limited and if or when I stretch for runs, my knees will shout out to me if I stretch too far and push and pull on them. Before this trip, I could never have imagined what kind of pain I would feel if I ever tripped or slipped in such a way that my full weight would came down on either one of  unintentionally bent legs. If that’s confusing to anyone, think of lying on your back then tucking one of your legs back to stretch your thighs out.

That was the position I ended up in after slipping down this stairway and, because of brittle knees, I scared the hell out of everyone, especially Annette, who said that she thought I was having  a seizure.  Was that wrong?

Even so, it really was a great trip. We drove down to North Carolina with friends of ours and stayed in a beautiful, two-story place only a couple of blocks from the beach. Shortly after we had arrived,(a couple days, not minutes or hours after), Ann and I ran a 5k(3.1 miles) race along with a friend of ours, a guy named Jimmy. The course was very flat, which I loved but it was quite humid out and I was dragging along. Even so, we all finished the race, happy that we’d all hung in there.

From here on out, many a lighthouse were seen. I believe that Ann and her friends toured each of the houses. I, myself, only recall seeing one of the lighthouses, because I was quite sore the day after this wipeout happened.

Another bright spot from this trip, that I actually saw was Eric and his friends singing at an Open-Mike Night over at Art’s Place, a popular restaurant in Kitty Hawk. As usual, Eric jumped on this opportunity, singing Memphis Lives in Me from the play Memphis, which he starred in not too long ago. When he finished, many of those there to watch stood and clapped in delight.  There were even a couple of people who came up to him afterwards to tell him how impressed they were by him and to ask about his theatrical experience.

Despite what happened to me, I was fortunate to have Ann, Eric and the others with me. Pain can seem so much less severe if you have the right people in your life, and I do.