The Fall

After months of procrastination, I finally caved in and got my arse to the skin center to get some professional help on my skin breakout. I have already spent tons of moolah on brand after brand of creams, lotions, cleansers over the counters, and they've all not proven any effective. Old dame Estee (God bless her soul) should be happy that vain idiots like me have contributed to her growing empire in this foolish way.

I was late for my appointment (as usual - nothing to express surprise about), but to my own pleasant surprise, the waiting time at the clinic has improved quite a bit. I was expecting to be thrown right to the back of the queue but hey, I was the third in line. Of course, I hurried into the consultation room without glancing at anyone else in the packed waiting room lest I caught some glare or dagger thrown at my back.

But just before I was called up for my consultation session, I noted this well-dressed lady, nice black suit with black heels and a elegant little black-white tote and all, but with also the "blackest" face to suit her outfit. I thought, 'gawd, what the hell had ticked her off? spare me the black face.' and it's obviously the real-friendly clinic staff. Anyway, none of my business - gotta attend to my queue number.

What happened shortly amused the hell outta me. Miss Blackie's number was called up next and as she got up and moved out of the row of seats, she tripped over the feet of the poor mister sitting right next to her. With a loud "plop", no one could ignore the scene. She fell right over his feet and onto the floor on all fours, dainty skirt ruffled, precious leather tote on floor. My gawd, I swore there could've been a thunderstorm right there in the waiting room. Without so much of a gracious apology (in my own experience, such incidents usually only occur to clums like me), she picked herself up, ignoring the help from the poor mister she tripped over herself, and fumed and fummed. I bet she must've swore something under her breath. I'm pretty sure Mister had no pre-conceived ill intention of sticking his feet out so you fall over, so spare him your agony.

How would you have reacted? For one, since I've had many clumsy incidents myself, I know mostly you would feel extreme embarassment in such a scenario and would feel akin to an ostrich, wanting so badly to stick your head into the ground beneath. Well, you would walk away with your red face pointing ground-wards, and scurry off the scene as quick as you can - at this point, you would probably also wish you had long legs like the ostrich. Or, you could handle the situation with grace, like a pro. Smile, laugh, acknowledge the silliness in yourself, don't feel sorry for yourself because everyone falls. Pick yourself up with grace, and move on with confidence. If you could accept yourself when you fall, so will others.

This reminded me of the catwalk incident where Naomi Campbell fell right on her butt onstage in Milan or somewhere. Yep, right on the catwalk in front of hundreds of cameras snapping away, front-row celebrities gawking in disbelief. Her pictures appeared in magazines almost immediately, showing her on the floor, short skirt hiked up, panties and all. They must be thinking, "So unglam, how could you, a pro, fall in right in front of hundreds? You're bound to appear on front-page tabloids." And most of us would be thinking, "EEeeee! Panties seen! How can?" But if you look closer at the pictures, she was wearing god-damned platform heels that must've been 5 inches high. And she was also wearing a big smile on her face. Apparently, Naomi handled the embarassing situation with so much grace, everyone applauded for her as she picked herself up, laughing as she did so. And of course, she continued her catwalk from there. (No whining, no fuming, no red-face - surprise surprise, Naomi!) She must've put all the other teeny supermodel-wannabes at the backstage to shame, as they probably must have been sniggering as they watched it happen. Girls, learn a thing or two from Naomi.

And you too, miss Blackie.