In the 4th grade I was somewhat of a jump rope champion among my friends. We would jump rope every day during recess. Most of the time we switched off jumping and turning the rope while chanting rhymes that dictated the style of the jump.

Our school had a wide covered concrete walkway that was perfect for jumping rope and we took full advantage of it. Some or our more favorite jumps included running in jumping and running out. Several of us girls would form a line and play “follow the leader” while jumping and doing tricks such as bending to touch the floor or turns and a variety of other moves. Of course, if you missed you had to take your turn throwing the rope.

We were playing “follow the leader” during recess one afternoon and I was next to jump. The girl in front of me tripped the rope causing it to falter as I ran in. This, in turn, made me trip and fall on the rope as I was running out. SMACK! I hit the concrete hard. It was so fast I don’t even think I managed to register any pain before the girl jumping behind me also fell. SMACK! As she fell onto me, I hit the concrete again.

Come to find out, I had broken my nose playing jump rope. As my face begin to swell, I finally started feeling the excruciating pain. My parents took me to the doctor after school; but they said they couldn’t do anything for a broken nose and eventually, the swelling would subside.

As the bruise started fading some time later, you could could see that the swelling had affected my entire face….even my ears had that slight yellowish tint from the bruising.

Years later, after much sinus problems and breathing noises, I was able to have that broken nose repaired. Today, I can actually breath and rarely make those horrible snorting noises.

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and… you have to blow your nose.