Can we talk about the ladder?

I left a little detail out of my last post, probably because I want to forget about it and believe that, yes, February is going to be a new month. But, it was an incident that deserves mention and while I cringe thinking about it, I also laugh out loud every time.

On Saturday we were enjoying an unusually quiet afternoon getting ready to have some friends over for dinner. Ben and Graham were asleep and Levi was helping me make a chocolate cake. We had some time to spare and Michael thought it would be a good time to hang something on the wall that I had been asking him to help with. It was to be put very high, on the wall above our front door. Michael brought in the extension ladder. I was skeptical when I saw it, thinking that I would much prefer a step ladder, but I went along with it when he said the others weren't tall enough.

After placing the ladder, Michael told me that I would have to be the one to climb up there because only I knew how it needed to be hung. He kindly offered to hold the ladder. I climbed confidently to the top but then noticed that the ledge above the door was full of dust and cobwebs. I told him I needed to clean it off first, so being the servant that he is, he left the ladder to get me a rag. I thought I was getting down to get a rag so we were definitely not on the same page.

Before I could say anything, I saw the top of the ladder begin to slide. The next few minutes are a blur, but basically, the ladder plummeted to the floor with me hanging on for dear life.

It could have been bad - really bad. Michael ran to catch me and broke my fall on the left side. I did, however, cut up my right leg and hurt my right hand pretty badly. We were sure it was broken (well, Michael was sure and I refused to think about it) but after a trip to the emergency room, discovered that it wasn't. Hallelujah!

Michael kindly said right after the fall, "I should have been the one up there. You weren't very secure." I looked at him and said, no I yelled, "Are you kidding? I didn't fall off the ladder! The ladder fell and I just went with it!" Yes, I'm sure the ladder could sense my insecurity and decided to plummet to the floor. He said he meant that he should have been the one to fall. Remember, I said he has a servant's heart :).

Levi is now traumatized and will probably never look at a ladder again without trembling. He quickly tells everyone we see that his mom fell off a ladder - thanks Levi. And about ten times a day he says to me, "Mom, can we talk about the ladder?" I have a feeling that we'll be talking about the ladder for a long time...