Unforgettable Childhood Experience

When I was six years old my family decided we were going to church one Easter Sunday, which was out of the ordinary for us, so I was pretty excited. I donned my fancy dress with the lace and frills, feeling like a princess. I got new shoes for the occasion also, nice shiny patent leather with a buckle on the side and slick soles, perfect for sliding across the kitchen floor.

We drove to the church and my excitement reached a new level as I saw friends from the neighborhood there for Sunday School also. As my parents got out of the car I began to do what six year olds do best, I hopped, skipped and ran ahead of them, across the freshly paved parking lot. I was having lots of fun until the church's large glass door kept getting closer and closer and I realized I was sliding and unable to stop. I tried to drop to the ground to stop myself, but it was too late, I hit the glass door with such force that the entire bottom half of the door shattered.

I was lying on my back with half of my body inside and the other half outside of the church. I was in shock, unable to move, as I stared in horror at a large jagged piece of glass dangling three feet above my stomach. The serrated glass swinging from the top of the door frame resembled a giant menacing icicle, its razor sharp point ready to impale me at any moment. I don’t remember hearing or seeing anything but that piece of glass, but luckily my stepdad snatched me out of harm’s way and quickly carried me to the car. We raced to the emergency room and I received ten stitches on the side of my left knee which happened to be the part of my body that I used as a battering ram against that glass door.

Now, at six years old I was very adamant about getting a perfect attendance award at school, so my mom was kind enough to carry me to school so I could try and keep the goal attainable. Since the knee is a part of the body that constantly moves, I developed water on the knee and my incision blew up like a water balloon. I had to have a doctor remove my stitches to relieve the water that was trapped beneath my skin which left me with two scars... one physical scar around two inches long on my knee and the other, a lifetime childhood scar for missing that perfect attendance award by one lousy day.