Clean up on aisle 10

What do you get when you mix Melody, chunky sandals, and an Orange Julius? A great childhood memory! Although it's probably not so great for Mel.

Before I begin, let me give you some background on my sister. The girl trips all the time, and by tripping I mean she falls completely to the ground. When she was younger it was a daily occurrence to see Melody suddenly fall to the ground. She would trip on something, usually just the air, and fall. She wouldn't even put her hands out to catch herself. It's like she would feel herself falling, and just say, "Well, I give up!" and fall all the way down. She even tripped once while riding a scooter. I guess I should say she crashed. I don't know what made her think that with her history she could ride that scooter through a pile of dried grass that was on the side walk and come out unscathed.  The pile of grass won. I remember going on walks and we would almost be home and think, "wow, Mel made it the whole way without tripping!" And then she would bite the dust in the driveway. That poor girl should have been wrapped in bubble wrap! Her little knees are so scarred up.

The last time we all were at Disneyland together my sister tripped just standing in line. We were waiting to get on the Matterhorn. Mel was standing next to me and was leaning on the railing. There was gap in the railing that she apparently didn't see. She fell straight into the bushes. And me, being the sympathetic big sister that I am kept on walking to the front to the line. My mom was a little bit behind us in line and gave me a questioning look that said, "where is your sister?" I just have her the "where do you think she is?" look and she knew exactly where to find her. Before you think I am heartless, I did look back to make sure she was okay. And we did make it on the Matterhorn without any further mishaps.

I can't remember exactly how old we all were when the Orange Julius story happened, but it was when the brown chunky sandals were really in, you know, the ones with the really big rubber sole. My mom, the two siblings, and I were headed to the mall for a day of shop til you drop. I am sure we sang show tunes in the car all the way up. Remember, all three are great shopping buddies and love the musicals. Before we left my mom told Melody to take those chunky sandals off, she is quite aware of Melody's tripping habits. Well, Melody didn't, and somehow ended up at the mall in the sandals without my mom noticing. She didn't notice, that is, until we got to the mall and Mel tripped. My mom was not happy about the shoes, but what do you do, you're already out.

Our first stop was the Orange Julius where we all got smoothies that were almost as tall as us. We are walking through Montgomery Wards, when down she goes. There lies Melody on the floor in a sea of Orange Julius and one very angry mom standing above her. The lady working behind the jewelry counter just stared at us in disgust. I think she gave my mom a roll of paper towels to clean up the mess, I can't quite remember. I do remember just staring at the mess and thinking how embarrassing this was and how much trouble Melody is going to be in for wearing those shoes. I may have laughed a bit when my mom wasn't looking.

Melody had to go barefoot the rest of the time we were at the mall. She said she didn't want to have to take her shoes off because she would look stupid. My mother's response was, "don't you think you look stupid sprawled out on the floor in a puddle of Orange Julius?" All compassion goes out the window when your children embarrass you.

It is not uncommon now days for my sister to say things like, "I fell down the stairs at work today." Or "Yesterday when I was walking into the store I fell in the parking lot." These are completely normal things for her to say. She has gotten a little better at staying on her feet since her childhood days, but I still cringe and say a prayer for that girl any time I see her in high heels.