I Fall, I Get Up - the continuation

July 2018: After Life, Toronto, CA

I left one exhibition to put on another more public display. I was bored, after leaving Gallery 44's annual members exhibition (Life photograph showing), so I figured I'd cut through the Eaton Centre on my way to the subway station. But the Fates had a different plan and down I went.

The only things I remembered were the sunlight flickering through the buildings, then seeing the grey of the road and hearing one voice that kept asking if I'm OK.

I guess it could've been worse. I could've fallen in the middle of the intersection and fallen backwards. Luckily, I wasn't wearing a dress. That being said, my silk pants (I made) received an unwanted permanent abrasion to go along with the permanent scar on my knee. What's one more scar? They're like badges.

Trying to get up and out of the way of soon-to-be moving cars was interesting. It took me a few tries as one foot had somehow half slipped out of its shoe, which I couldn't get back into the shoe. And my bag became a hundred-pound anchor, pulling me to one side. This must be how it feels for a bird to be tangled in trash.

My bruised ego healed within a couple of hours; my busted knee, a few months; my sprained ankle, almost a year. I spent the ride home trying to understand how I managed to fall. This type of wipe-out is understandable when surfing or skateboarding, but walking across the street?!? I wondered about the role my shoe had played; it's a 2-inch cork wedge with a wide zippered strap around the ankle and across the toe. I chose this pair of shoes because they seemed secure and comfortable for walking. \( ⊙_⊙)/ Only upon reflecting while writing this I realized what happened. Instead of stabilizing the ankle, the strap due to its exact placement together with the change in angle of the foot, acted as a pressure plate, squeezing the ligaments between the leg and ankle.

Maybe I should have titled this post strangled by fashion - I didn't because I love fashion. 

 The rest of the summer was spent hobbling around on the TTC and at work, and trying to find ways to speed up the recovery of my ankle. I found out about using a silver solution wound ointment (I'm sure I'll need it again) for the knee, but unfortunately, I couldn't find anything to escalate the healing of my ankle. So I wrapped the ankle in compression bandage and began preparation for CONTACT.

don't let pain stop you,

❤ Christina

-PS- to everyone reading these posts, thank you. I don't know who you are; I do know photographs need to be viewed and writings need to be read. I recently created a Facebook (public) profile where I'll post brief updates, for anyone interested.