It’s a simple thing, really.  I just don’t get people.  Three words is all I ask for.  Three simple words that can show you care, a little compassion.  

I was planning on meeting my friend, Luke, for coffee mass last Sunday.  He got hung up at the  church so I went on ahead to get a table and wait.  I walked down the back steps of the church to the lower parking lot.  There’s a little driveway that runs between the church parking lot and the alley behind the church.  Across the alley is the parking lot of a hardware store, and across the street on the other side of the hardware store is the coffee shop.  So that was my route.  I might add, the little driveway has a slope to it, as you can see in the picture.

Maybe I should’ve used the steps. Or, maybe I should’ve paid attention.

The weather was in the low 30’s on Sunday, which is the sweet spot for slippery pavement.  A thin sheen of ice tends to form that you can’t really see and, if you’re not careful, will be the end of you.  

Such was the case for me.  My fault really, I was stupidly trying to text and walk at the same time.  I hit that slope and that was all she wrote.  My feet went flying out from underneath me, my phone flew out of my hands and down I went on to my elbow and right hip, sliding and cursing my way down the driveway.

It was funny, I get that.  I had to laugh at myself in spite of the bruises to my elbow, hip and ego.  And If I’d witnessed it happening to someone else I’d have to stifle a chuckle at the very least.  Even so, I’d still manage enough concern to ask, “Are you okay?”  

When I took my tumble on Sunday there was a couple walking about 10 feet in front of me.  Far enough away that they weren’t on the sloping driveway but close enough to hear the commotion behind them.  And hear it they did as they both turned around to see what happened behind them.

The husband was carrying one of those portable car seats with the handle that you can pop back into the main car seat in the vehicle.  His wife was in front of him.  And both of them turned around, looked right at me, then turned back around and continued on their way, without a word or even a shrug of the shoulders.

Part of me wants to give them a break.  They had a baby, so, maybe the reason they didn’t so much as chuckle is testament to the exhaustion that new parents experience.  But still, they’d just walked out of church, man.  Church!  

Adding insult to injury, a car had come around the corner and down the driveway as I went down.  She stopped and looked right at me as I stood up, doing my best impression of a perfect dismount, arms raised in the air, attempting to cover my embarrassment.  She leaned over as if she was going to open her window and say something to me.  I thought, “At last, someone cares!”  No, she didn’t.

She was just reaching into her purse on the passenger seat.  I turned and walked away before she could get the picture of the idiot who fell down on the ice.

“Are you okay?”  Is that so hard to ask?