Personal Essay: Look Before You Leap

Personal Essay: Look Before You Leap


One bright Easter day about four years ago, my family had gone to my
grandparents" house to celebrate Easter like we usually do each year.   We talked,
ate, and had fun.   Little did we know when we drove up to the house that, by the
end of the day, we would be in a hospital emergency room.
It all started when my cousin suggested that we have a water fight.   We
had water guns and "water Easter eggs." These were plastic eggs filled with
water that would come open when you hit someone.   My cousin Ryan and I were on
one team and my cousins Philip and Lance were on another team.   We played
outside the house and also on a deck extending from the second floor of my
grandparent"s house.   For about thirty minutes we played and got a little wet
but nobody had been hurt.
At one point during the game, when I was inside,   my cousin Philip, who
was on the deck, said "I"ve had enough.   Come out here."
"Is this a trick?," I asked.   It seemed a little suspicious.
"No, of course not.   I"m just sick of this game."
"Well, okay."   I hesitated then decided to go out to the deck.
"Ha!   Got you!" said my other opponent, Lance, who was hiding behind the
door with a water egg in his hand.
"Liar!," I yelled at Philip.   My instant reaction was to jump off the
deck onto the grass below.   I had done it many times before and knew that I
would be okay.   That way I could get away from Lance and I would not lose the
water fight.   The water egg whizzed right past my head as I vaulted over the
railing of the deck.   I shouted "Missed me!" without thinking about or looking
at what was below me.   The only thing that I was thinking about on the way down
was not getting hit with that water egg.   This thoughtlessness was my big
mistake.   Since I was not paying attention on the way down, I lost my balance
and landed on my left foot in a painful fall.
"Are you all right?" Lance asked me.
Not knowing how badly I was hurt I responded "Of course I"m all right.
I"m...