A Smashing Good Trick

On weekdays during my senior year of high school, bedtime was usually around 10:00pm.  One particular evening as the clock approached the 22nd hour, I found myself alone in my bedroom nowhere near ready to fall asleep.  Some people in this situation would read a book or watch TV to wind down.  Not me.  I used this extra energy to create an amazingly awesome trick.

For those of you that have never been to my childhood bedroom, it was very small.  I had a twin bed that was flush against the wall, bookshelves and a desk lining the other walls, and that’s about all that fit.

(This is not my actual bedroom. I couldn’t find a good picture to use but felt an image was necessary. I actually have no idea whose bedroom this is.)

The trick went as follows…

The bed was made.  I turned down the corner of the sheets that was closest to the wall.  I stepped back to the other side of the room (which was only about 6 feet).  Then I took a few quick steps.  Once I got right next to the bed I launched myself in to the air.  As I hovered above the bed I grabbed the turned down sheet corner and with cat-like speed I did a 180 turn; landing on my back, tucked in between the sheets.  Awesome.

I was so proud of myself for not only thinking up such a great trick but for also making it a reality.  And I was shockingly successful at sticking the landing.

After about 30 minutes of doing my trick over and over, my mom stopped by to say goodnight.

“Oh good!!  I was hoping you were coming up.  I have an awesome new trick to show you.  I’ve been practicing for like ever.  I’m really good at it now.”

Her mouth said, “A trick??” but her face said, “Oh great! What now?!?!”

Now that I had an audience my awesomeness was under a lot more pressure.  So when I ran, I ran a little harder.  When I launched myself in to the air, I launched a little harder.  And when I went to grab the sheets…BAM!!!

It took me a second to realize why I was lying on top of the sheets and not proudly tucked between them; that instead of doing a 180 I had just body slammed myself in to the wall.

With the exact same look on her face my mom simply said, “Neat trick Katie” and walked away. 

She eventually did come back to see if the noise she was hearing was sobbing or uncontrollable giggling.  It was the latter of the two.  I suspect she spent that night lying in bed thinking about how proud she was of her brilliant baby girl…either that or wondering where she went wrong!