Funnies

This morning I woke up and geared up for a 6 mile run. I always dread the runs, but once out of the door, listening to my music, and pounding the pavement, I feel a sense of comfort. It was beautiful this morning and I was already happy to be outside as I turned the corner out of my community. As I look to cross the street, I see my friend Karli's Jeep turning into Aspenwood. I slowed down to the very dumb-looking "jog in place" so I could talk to her for a second. We talk about hanging out tonight and then waved goodbye. As I am waving I start to run again. Now I am waving and looking at Karli in one direction, and running in the other (recipe for disaster if you are as uncoordinated as myself) and I tripped. Not a little scuffle of the feet, but a full blown trip. My body bent almost completely in half as my face was headed for the pavement and my arms were flailing around like propellers desperately searching for something to grab onto. All the while, my body is still progressing forward. I was able to keep myself from falling all the way, but I am sure the whole 40 second event was HILARIOUS! I got myself together and looked at Karli (who was stopped mid turn), her hand was over her mouth and her eyes were as big as saucers. We just cracked up hysterically. I gave her a behind the back wave, as I attempted to cross the street again without doing myself bodily harm.

For the first mile of my run I was laughing at myself. I started to think of the times when Dan and I ran together on the trails and how often I would trip and fall. He used to laugh at me (and get annoyed) at the fact that I always fell on my face! I don't know why I did not get that innate protective instinct to PUT OUT YOUR ARMS AND HANDS when you are falling! You can compare me to timber that's been cut at the base, I just fall over, and when it's always in slow motion when you are in that moment. What makes my lack of saving my face ability so much weirder is that I have a terrible fear of loosing my teeth. You would think that someone as terrified as me about loosing their teeth, would put almost every body part closer to the ground to absorb the fall. Nope. Not this girl...face plant, here I come! One of my favorite "fall" stories takes place on the trails of Savage MD, but before I tell it I need to give you some background information.

Dan NEVER called me Tiffin. I always had a nickname, and so did EVERYTHING else. It was almost like we spoke our own language, and I know for a fact most things were only funny to us.

If you ever look at older photos of me, you will see that one of my front teeth was shorter than the other one. This bothered me so much, and Dan knew it. Instead of giving me loving support and telling me I was beautiful anyway, he named it, "mini tooth." I couldn't even get mad, because it was so funny. "T, you have chocolate on mini tooth or T, mini tooth doesn't like it when you open things with it." Mini tooth had a voice, and it cracked me up every time.

Now back to the trails. We are running on the trails and my toe catches a rock. Insert scene from today's run, but this time I go rolling down a very steep hill. I stop right before rolling into the river. I got up and my face was bleeding, both knees, elbows, but I wasn't badly hurt at all. I get up, start giggling about how freakin' graceful I am, and Dan yells down, "Honeyahhhh!! IS MINI TOOTH OKAY?" I laughed so hard I could barely make it back up the hill.

A few months before Dan and I got married, I decided that I did not want mini tooth in the wedding photos. I had a veneer replace mini, and became much happier with my smile. That day, when I came home from the dentist, Dan had made a MISSING/REWARD poster for mini tooth that he put on the fridge. He drew a replica of my mouth and circled mini tooth. It even had a 1-800-FND-MINI hot line, last seen date, height and weight.

I absolutely love days like today when I can think of our times together smile and laugh instead of cry and mourn. There was never a shortage of laughter in this Shriner household, and I am keeping the tradition today. Thanks Dan, for all the wonderful memories.