Collision in the Dark

One thing that my hubby does on a regular basis is to trip over things. He's gotten better lately. He actually went two weeks without a seriously calamitous collision with an obstacle on the floor.

Unfortunately, when he did collide with something it was immovable and he re-injured the toe he broke when tripping another time.

Each time he does this the thud is followed by a loud "OOMPH!" and sometimes a swear or two. Which is usually answered with me laughing.

I don't know what it is wrong with me but the sound of him tripping or colliding with something, especially in the dark can throw me into a fit of giggles that leaves me gasping for air and groping for my inhaler!

In his defense, there are a great number of obstacles that now exist in the house that never used to be there before. However, he is not Helen Keller...he can see where he is going. He just doesn't look down when he is moving through a room. This may be good social etiquette but is dangerous in a house with ankle biters.

This is not a condition that started with the arrival of the boys either. This has been going on for quite some time. The most memorable of all events was when I was about 5 or 6 months pregnant. We had brushed our teeth, taken our vitamins and headed to bed when I complained that I was hot.

Being the wonderful hubby that he is, he valiantly hopped out of bed and headed downstairs to the dining room where the thermostat is located adjust the AC.

We have a center-hall colonial style house with a foyer at the bottom of the stairs. To the left is the dining room. Between the foyer and the dining room is a small alcove. When I finished the vacuuming earlier that day,  instead of putting it away I tucked the vacuum in the alcove because I had more to do but was tired and needed to rest. I wasn't on full bed rest for my pregnancy but wasn't allowed to do much. Vacuuming was pushing it!

To get to the thermostat hubby was going to go from the bottom of the stairs, across the foyer and through the alcove.

It was nighttime, it was dark and we live alone. There was no one else in the house so rather than putting his sweats on and turning on a light, he just ran downstairs in the dark. Naked.

OMG THE VACUUM CLEANER! Before I could yell down to him I heard him make contact with the Dyson.

OOMPH!!! F*&@!!!

Fortunately, he did not hurt the Dyson.