When we were in Europe, I took a couple of nasty falls. At both occasions, right before I fell, I was so happy that I wanted to bounce around. Instead, I slipped and fell. First time was when I saw the bathroom in the presidential suite that Tom Raftery had reserved for us in Cork. It had a big bathtub and a shiny marble floor. I tried to hop to the bathtub, but I slipped and went down screaming as my head hit against the toilet. Next time I fell was in Belgium, when we went out with Tom Mertens  and Wim Verhaeghen for a nocturnal tour of the city. The night air was crisp and cool, the lights were shinning bright and I was so happy that I wanted to bounce around. I tripped on the cobble stones and crashed hearing my knees bang on the hard stones. Both times when I fell, Robert helped me up to make sure I was alright. For the remainder of our time there, I kept walking looking down making sure I didn’t trip and slip. I must have missed so many beautiful sights while trying not to fall down again.

Saturday was one of those unseasonably warm and sunny days here in Seattle. I felt like jumping up and down with joy. We had breakfast at Maltby café. The aroma of hot brewing coffee, delicious muffins and Marion berry French toast permeated the air and at a few different tables around us we saw families dressed festively exchanging holiday gifts. Later that day, we found ourselves walking around a local mall full of eager shoppers, happy children and bright and colorful holiday decorations. The three of us were giddy all day, feeling happy to be together, breathing in all the festivity and bliss in the air. That night Robert wanted to go to Best Buy to watch the people in line for the new X-box, so we headed over there taking highway 405.

As we exited the freeway, and went over the ramp we could see lots of police cars and fire trucks with blinking lights parked under the overpass. We didn’t see any cars crashed on the side though. As we passed by the bridge we saw some police officers standing there. By the railings, on the sidewalk, you could see a navy blue sweatshirt and a man’s gray shirt. Robert said solemnly, I bet someone has jumped down. We were all quiet in the car until we got to the Best Buy store.

Seems like we fall so many times in our lives. I have fallen plenty of times, but I have always been able to dust myself off and walk away. Most of the time, there was a helping hand reaching out to me offering to help me up. Some believe we are here on earth because we fell from God’s grace; we might fall for the wrong person; we sometimes fall on the floor and hurt ourselves; other times things fall through; sometimes we fall apart and other times we fall in love.

I haven’t heard anything in the news about a suicide attempt near Bellevue, and I hope it was just our morbid imagination. I can’t get the stranded navy blue sweater by the sidewalk and the image of a man falling down to his death out of my mind though. Hope that through the holidays, if you are going to fall, you have some one near you to help pick you up, but if you get to choose, pick falling in love over falling apart.