Getting up and falling down

On one particularly tiring day I had to laugh at myself when I tried to climb down a metal ladder that went nowhere. Most the time we got onto the billboards by way of a ladder atop the boom of our truck’s crane, as was the case this time. Each billboard has an access ladder attached, but—to prevent just anyone from climbing up—it generally takes at least an extension ladder to access. I was in such a rush to keep up with the other members of the crew that I didn’t even realize I was climbing down to a dead end. I’m sure it looked pretty amusing. I found multiple reasons to laugh at myself on any given day while learning a construction job, which has to rank near last place on my desired jobs’ list.

In fact, in my disoriented haze I got down without bringing my wallet along. Actually, it had pushed itself free of my back pocket as I scooted along the deck—strapping the billboard vinyl in place. How’s that for not taking accountability for my actions. It’s as if I’m blaming the wallet. I didn’t even notice it was gone until a few boards later. So we made a detour back to the board and to make things quicker (not setting up the truck’s crane and footing) I got my chance with an extension ladder returning to the hanging access point I had visited earlier.

My body was sore and not adjusting well to the four ten-hour-day’s schedule. Later that same morning, I misjudged how far I had climbed down the ladder on the boom. With about twelve feet remaining I let go, my right ankle twisting under the weight of my body crashing to the bed of the truck. Luckily, I was able to walk off the pain and the swelling was minimal. That woke me up for the rest of the day. I’m not sure how funny it was, but I laughed it off, like everything else.