Crutches

I got access to my first pair of crutches in the first grade. I don't remember thinking of them as an inconvenience, except that I had to have one of my classmates carry my lunchbox. And I was always slightly scared on the stairs that I was going to try to go down one step and end up going down twenty instead. That fear was realized at least once later in life, but that's a different story.
The injury was caused by a fishing accident. I was fishing on a dock with my dad, and there was about 8 feet of water between the dock and the shore. I really had to pee and didn't want to get wet, and my dad didn't want to get in the boat to take me to shore. So he picked me up and said "One ... Two ..... THREE" while I screamed "NOOoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!" I found myself flying through the air towards the shore, and since I hadn't as yet developed my tuck-and-roll crash technique, I ended up with a sprained ankle. I'm sure that the lack of ankle support in the sloppy rubber galoshes I was wearing didn't help. But really the problem was that I wasn't experienced enough in the art of landing lightly after flying through the air. I now consider this art one of my finest talents, one I'm sure I wouldn't have developed without my father's constant lessons.

Chop 'er Down

One of Ashley and my favorite games growing up was one my dad called Chop 'er Down. I'm sure it was one of those games that was already our favorite game before my mom was able to find out about it. This game, as with other games we played growing up, revolved around the use of two giant brown pillows that came from our hideous brown couch we ended up selling to a blind woman sans pillows. Basically, my sister and I would jump up and down on my parents bed while avoiding the pillow axe my father was swinging back and forth at ankle level.
Of course our favorite part was when we actually got "chopped down," which meant our legs flying out from under us, and sometimes our whole body getting flipped upside down. Most landings ended softly on the bed, but occasionally we would tumble off onto the floor. It was only when we got tall enough that we fell off the bed and ran into various bedroom furniture consistently that my mom was able to convince the rest of us that the game may be past its prime.