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Oct

6

A Memory of Falling

Filed Under Family | 5 Comments

Don’t ask me why, but it’s just one of those times I just suddenly remembered something from a long time ago, one of those times that I almost died. I must have been a really restless child. I suppose most children are. I figure I was around 7 or 8, and one of the things I loved doing was climbing. I climbed anything I could possibly climb. I climbed trees, fences, walls, clotheslines and that kind of thing. I never seem to learn my lesson because half of those times ended in disasters.

One particular time I climbed up our property wall, which was like maybe 6 or 7 feet high. It was an unfinished wall because reinforcing bars were sticking up in even intervals along the top of the wall. I walked along the top of this wall, balancing myself, careful to try and avoid the steel bars sticking out. Why did I do it? I guess for that age it was something I thought was thrilling and fun. I guess I just lost my head and didn’t mind the bars too much and I tripped over one. I could feel myself falling. My first instinct was to hold on to whatever I could hold on to, and at that moment it was the branch of a nearby papaya tree.

If you’ve ever seen a papaya tree, you would know how flimsy and weak those branches are. Imagine me grabbing onto one of the branches, and imagine that branch easily breaking off. That’s exactly what happened.

So there I was, some 6 feet off the ground, falling with a broken papaya branch held tightly in my hand.

The next thing I remember was me trying to get up. I remember being very disoriented, half conscious, unable to stand. I saw our laundry woman running towards me and then I blacked out.

Next thing I saw were lights and people hovering over me stitching something up in my head. I thought it must have been the hospital, and then I was out again.

I regained consciousness again at home, a big bandage was on my right eyebrow. I had hit the ground head first cutting my right eyebrow in half. You can still see the scar right now when you look at me.

That was only one of several accidents I’ve had with my head that required hospitalization. But none of them seemed quite as life threatening as that first one. I shudder to think of how it would be had I fallen even slightly different. I could have been paralyzed. I could have broken my neck and died.

But as I fell, I didn’t think about dying. Maybe I was just too young to think about those kinds of things. In fact, I know that what I must have been thinking was my parents are going to be so pissed that my dad was going to give me the belt when he came home that night. That was what I was thinking about.

I knew I would be all right later on.

Comments

5 Responses to “A Memory of Falling”

  1. KC Cordero on October 6th, 2012 11:47 am

    gerry,
    ay nakatikim nga ga ng sinturon?

  2. Gerry Alanguilan on October 6th, 2012 4:57 pm

    KC… palagi.. lalo na pag may nababasag ako, o naliligo sa ulan ng walang paalam, etc….:)

  3. Jose Mari Lee on October 7th, 2012 9:31 am

    Sa aming pamilya, walang paluan. Pero masesermunan ka naman. He-he. Parang mas effective yata ang sermon kaysa palo. Yung sermon kasi, usually, may kasamang wisdom. Parang mas madaling matandaan ang salita kaysa hapdi ng palo. I could be wrong.

    Mahilig din akong umakyat sa mga puno, pero hindi tulad ni Che Guevarra. May kilala akong Chileno, si Pacual Nahuelpan, na kamag-anak ni Che Guevarra. Noong bata pa si Che sa Argentina ay tumatalon sa bintana ng bahay nila (three-storey) sa bintana naman ng three storey house din sa kapitbahay nila. Masasabi nating hawig sa hilig ni Che Guevarra ang hilig mo Gerry. LOL. May magandang sport na tiyak na magugustuhan mo: Rock Climbing. I tried it and it’s fun.

    Noong ako’y maliit pa at nagbabakasyon sa Bicol, nakahiligan ko ang balisong. Ala’y Uo. Ako baga’y di naman Batnginyo, subali’t gustung gusto ko iyong kapag recess sa school, I would splay my fingers on the desk, and I would quickly poke the knife in-between my fingers in succession. Not even once did I miss and hit my hand. The last time I did this was in 1988, I was having dinner with friends and I placed a huge cutting board on the table and started doing my fave activity with a knife. The women were all shocked, and everybody’s consensus was: “JM you’re nuts!”

    Which takes us back to my childhood. When I would vacation in my grandfather’s house in Matnog, I would ask the children of the maids and farm workers to stand against the trunk of a tree, and with their arms outstretched, I would throw knives just like what knife throwers would do in a circus show. Again, I did this activity plenty of times but never wounded anyone, let alone killed someone. Funny, the kids were more than glad to volunteer as my target. Now looking back, I realize how crazy it was. But, when you’re a child, you never think about death. That’s why adult supervision is always needed. Funny how my parents and my granddad never knew of this clandestine activity I had engaged in when I was a child. I always did it when they were not present. It was a blast. :)

  4. Robert Nacion on October 8th, 2012 11:19 am

    ako naman bossing kahit noon bata pa ako eh lagi akong naaksidente. mga 6 or 7 years old din yata ako noon. natamaan ng nahulog na yero ang ilong (ewan ko kung papano nangyari yun). kaya bata pala ako e operado na ilong ko (konting tamaan lang ang ilong ko ngayon eh dumudugo na agad. nagkaruon pa ako noon na parang malulumpo ako (ewan ko din kung anong sakit yun, pabalik-balik ako sa hospital). tapos ngayon naman sa korea naaksidente ako, naalala mo ba yun?. sana’y nako sa puro check up sa hospital hehe. matignan nga ang eybrow mo at ng makita ko bakas ng kalikutan mo noon bata ka hehe :)

  5. Benedict Punzalan on October 17th, 2012 10:48 pm

    i was choked by a piso coin,hindi ko alam ang gagawin…nagkagulo ang buong compound.lahat ng tita ko tuliro..tapos pinalulon ako ng turdan na saging 2 pcs kagad…prang lalo ako nabulunan…after that nakahinga nko….intayin ko daw sa banyo ang paglabas un lucky coin daw yun sabi nila…
    then one time i was going to a barbershop with my mom…i wanted to walk with my eyes closed.medyo mahaba kasing lakaran un….suddenly hindi n makapa ng paa ko ung lupa…in a single moment i feel like im flying but i didnt realize im actually falling,pero pikit parin ang mata ko..when i wake up nagkakagulo n.my mom was shouting,nahulong pla ako sa bangbang (dry canal) with almost 2.8 meters ang lalim,buti nalang my tambak n karton dun ako pumatak….prang natalo ko na si Evel Knievel.Thank God and my guardian angel wla ako bali o bukol…