There’s a flip side to the truth of yesterday’s post. When I don’t pay attention to what’s going on around me, I am often likely to surprise other people.

Say, for instance, when I graduated with my Master’s last December and startled the whole graduating class of 2019.

I was in my cap and gown, pacing in the atrium area of the UNO Lakefront Arena with a couple of hundred other people all waiting to take the stage. The University of New Orleans, while not an enormous school, graduates a good crowd of students each semester, and the atrium held a sea of navy blue caps bobbing up and down because some of the undergrads were literally bouncing with excitement. I hung along the back wall, as if holding on to the edge of a deep pool. The phone rang in my pocket. I was grateful that it was my friend, Charly. She called to congratulate me and I needed the distraction.

One problem. I pace when I talk on the phone. It’s worse when I’m nervous. I tend to shake. I don’t lose my sight, but I become incapable of really seeing anything.

See these banners:

I didn’t. These are just three of twelve, all lined up against the wall. While I trembled and paced and talked on the phone without looking at where I was going, I bumped into the one on the end and KNOCKED ALL OF THEM DOWN.

All of them. Like dominoes. In fact, yes, think of dominoes because often times in movies and such when you see dominoes go down, the tiny clicks they make against each other and the floor are the only sound you hear echoing in a silent room. These banners fell onto each other and the floor with a repetitive clatter that rendered the atrium silent as everyone turned and watched. And there I was, snapped back into reality, cell phone in hand saying, “Uh, I gotta call you back.”

No undergrads were hurt in this event.

I’m off to take a walk now. I would tell you that I’ll watch where I’m going, but I can’t make any promises. If you hear tires screech and buildings fall, that’s probably because of me, but don’t worry. I won’t notice.