Falling flat on my face, getting back up

With Connie Britton at Hillary Clinton Keene office

If you do a good thing for yourself followed by something that is not so good, do they cancel each other out?

Of since the bad is second, does that take precedence?

Or what if you finish with a good? Then you might end up ahead.

OK, so...During last Sunday's second presidential debate, I almost immediately texted to my friends, regarding Donald Trump's lurking behind Hillary Clinton, "OMG, he's going to hit her." I half-joked that I would take half an Ativan but it had gotten too late and I knew I might be sleepy the next day.

The next evening, Monday, I wasn't that up to it, but I went to yoga. When I got back I was still anxious about several things, and, if you can have a fond memory of being in the hospital, I had one about my late nurse friend Vytas coming into my room and giving me a whole milligram straight into my catheter. He would stand beside me for a few minutes, with that little smile of his, and watch me thankfully drift away. I thought what the heck and popped the whole thing. I don't use it very much, which of course is good , but it therefore has a greater effect on me than when I was taking it more frequently.

I didn't think much of it. When it was time for me to take Maddie out before bed, I did my usual thing, turning on two lights. Sort of my usual thing because I usually also take the flashlight. When we went out I called to her, "Come on Maddie, do your business." And looking out at her and not at the step, I missed it and crashed down face first onto the walkway. Glasses flying, I landed on my nose. My knee and chest also took a hit. She sat there. I lay there. My nose bled.

Getting myself up, I went into the house and called my good friend Claudia. I don't remember the time, but it was after 10. Luckily she was with Katie's friend Kristen, a newly minted physician's assistant, and they came over together to look me over. Seeing nothing major, they packed me in ice and put me to bed.

Over the next few days I was increasingly sore. My nose turned black and blue enough so that I thought it might be broken. On Friday I had an X-ray and since I didn't get a call, I assume that it is fine. The first few nights it was so swollen that I had trouble breathing. I took some ibuprofen for a few days after getting permission from Melissa. (Good for reducing swelling and pain, bad for kidneys.)

Mostly I was embarrassed and annoyed with myself and generally putting myself down. I was also upset that I missed one of the last weeks of Wednesday tennis.

But, feeling between 75 to 80 percent today (thinking of my father who liked to talk about his health in percentages), I went on my second canvassing trip to Keene, NH. I actually went to Marlborough, NH, but we left from the Keene office. The shift didn't start until noon, but we got there to see Connie Britton, who is campaigning in New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton, Maggie Hassan and the other Democrats.

I loved Friday Night Lights and was thrilled to see her. "You guys are democracy in action," she said to the assembled volunteers, mostly all of us on this shift from Massachusetts, before leading us in the ultimate Coach Taylor pep talk, "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."

This week marks the beginning of the GOTV (Get Out the Vote) part of the campaign, and it is interesting to see how they start this effort that was such a successful part of the Obama campaign. I went with two other people to houses identified as having either Democratic or unaffiliated voters, asked if the Dems were all set or if they needed any information, and had some interested conversations with the ones who said they had not yet decided.

Then it was back to the office, where, same as last week, they had some yummy food. The reporter in me still appreciates free food, and the canvasser in me was hungry.