Watch Your Head

With church starting at 10 o'clock everywhere in this country, you would think that anyone could get themselves and their two year old out the door and off to church on time. Well, that is exactly what we had been doing since we arrived here in Japan, at least until about a month ago. I can't pin point the problem, but some combination of not getting things ready on Saturday, laying in bed too long on Sunday morning, and spending too much time cooking breakfast has produced a fairly chaotic scene at our house on Sunday mornings.

It was on one of the chaotic mornings a few weeks ago that I found myself running into our bedroom in frantic search for car keys. If you remember, I explained once that doorways in Japan are built at a standard 178 centimeters (or about 5 ft. 11 in.). Barefoot I am just under six feet. This height problem has in the past resulted in various bumps and bruises on my head, but none have ever been very lasting. Because the doorways are only barely shorter than I, rarely notice the difference. However, on this busiest of Sunday mornings, things would be different.

You must also understand that when the human body is in a running motion it's actually like a long series of repetitive jumping. This means that though when standing I rise above the door way just a centimeter or so, when running that difference increases another centimeter or two. Also, running in place that I usually walk disrupts my normal pattern of movement. Thus when running full tilt into the bedroom after a lost set of keys, I experienced a momentary laps in my habitual cautionary ducking as I went into the room and ducked too early. My head smacked squarely into the underside of the lentil and I fell flat on my back, thankful onto our bed, instead of the hardwood floor. Both Callan and Melissa came running into the room and Cal tried to comfort me with a hug. The bruise is mostly gone now, but I am definitely more cautious about running through the kitchen.