When we were in Arlington this weekend, I noticed my mother was having more trouble than usual getting into the car. Upon closer inspection I realized she had a bruise on her chin.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Oh, well…I fell the other day,” she said reluctantly.

“WHAT?!” I gasped in horror.

“I fell outside on the stairs that go to the basement and I couldn’t get up.”

The old “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercial immediately came to mind.

“Oh no! What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, since I couldn’t get up, I just stayed there on the ground for awhile.” My heart was breaking into a million splintery shards as I pictured my elderly mother face planting on the cold hard ground.

She started to grin and continued, “And then I noticed there were some weeds right where I’d fallen. So, since I couldn’t do anything else, I started pulling out the weeds. After a little while I could get up again.”

Yep. That’s my mother.

My sister bandages my mom’s banged up leg.