Embarrassing Moments

Life is full of embarrassing moments.  Don't let them get you down.  I had one last Tuesday on my morning run.  I was running down 4th East on brand new asphalt.  It was a great surface for running. I could see ahead the machine that lays the asphalt parked on the side of the road.  They hadn't finished the whole road and must have left it there overnight.  So when I came to the machine I shifted over to the sidewalk and ran on it.  When I got passed the machine, I started to shift back to the road.  My toe caught a crack and I started to fall forward.  I put my hands out to catch my fall which hurt the palms of my hands a lot and then I rotated further forward and smacked my chin on the road.  That hurt too.  The worst thing about this was that Cherilyn Burr (Caleb's friend Cameron's mother) was running just on the other side of the road.  She saw the whole thing.  It's funny how embarrassment can be worse than physical pain.  She asked me if I was ok.  I said I was and then walked back home to check on my wounds.  Nothing was hurt too bad.  My chin swelled up and now has a scrape on it, but it should be fine in a few days.

Thankfully, I have forgotten most of my embarrassing moments.  I do remember a traumatic experience when I sang in the glee club in third grade.  We were singing for parents at the Christmas concert.  I was prepared to be the backup soloist for the solos in We Three Kings of Orient Are.  I had to memorize all three verses in case one of the actual soloists got sick.  As luck would have it, the kid that was supposed to sing the third solo (Myrrh is mine. It's bitter perfume...) got sick.  So I  had to step in and sing.  Well, when my turn came I opened my mouth and started to sing.  On about the third note, I hit it wrong (sharp or something), and just stopped singing.  There I stood, looking at the director, not singing a word through the rest of the solo.  I was mortified.

My advice is to learn to laugh at yourself during these moments.