Pride Goeth Before The Fall

I got roller skates! I don't remember whether they were for Christmas or a birthday, but they became a favorite way for me to spend my playtime. In learning to skate I held onto parked cars. As my bravery increased, it was fortunate for me that we lived just a few houses away from where the street started uphill, and I used this to my greatest advantage in skating. I would hold onto a bicycle-parking bar that went out from the coffee shop about a quarter of the way across a very wide sidewalk and was close to the bottom of the hill. The bar allowed me to pull myself up, just a couple of inches at first, and roll down. I went higher and higher up that hill until I felt pretty darned confident.
I had seen the Olympic ice skaters on t.v. and I liked their style. I still very much enjoy their graceful turns and spins, and I became proud of myself for my new found skill level. I could do some of those spins and one that I recall was being able to turn by gaining momentum and then bringing my heels in so that I would turn around and around facing the inside of my circle.
One day I decided to try something new. Those Olympic skaters could jump. I put on my skates and tried jumping. I could do it! Not very high but I still could. I didn't dare jump very high so to put flair into my performance I added a jump rope. As long as I was careful and slow it worked but I needed to be able to jump just like I did without skates. I increased my jumping speed and made the attempt despite the warnings of my brother and the rope got caught in the wheels of a skate. I fell flat on my face! Richard ran to get Grandma as I laid on the cement. My mouth was bleeding and it hurt but when my Grandma took one look at me she laughed! Immediately she covered her own mouth, apologized profusely, giggled a little, and told me how sorry she was that I had fallen down but that I looked so funny with my upper lip stuck up like that. It took me several minutes to let go of being mad at her laughter 'cause I guessed she was right. I could feel that my lip was pushed up as I landed on my face (she even showed me in the mirror) and I was lucky I hadn't broken my front teeth. So all that really got dented was my pride.