Roof Sitting in New Orleans

Melinda Palacio

It's the fourth of July in New Orleans and my friend invited me to a swim, barbecue, and roof sitting party. Roof sitting means climbing a rickety ladder to the attic and catapulting oneself to the roof. The catapulting force cannot be too rigorous because there's not much of a ledge on the slanted roof. However, it's an ideal setting or seating to see fireworks from a barge on the Mississippi river. It also beats battling the crowds in the French Quarter.

I made peach sangria punch with a botched batch homemade peach ice cream. My hand is in working order after a big splinter embedded itself under my thumbnail. I posted a picture on facebook and bloguero Sedano suspected a good story behind the espina impalement. No juicy story to tell. I am simply clumsy. Always have been. Ever since the time I first sprained my ankle dancing in the dark, and then the time I was nine and I was jumping rocks to get to the other side of a lake, slipped, and nearly lost my toe to a broken glass bottle under the water, just big enough to leave my littlest toe dangling by some stubborn skin. Earlier in the week, I was opening a bathroom door when I grabbed the handle with too much vigor and impaled myself. The splinter under my thumb almost reach my cuticle and was smack in the center of my fingernail.  I didn't have any polish on my nails and you could see the unnatural splinter in the center of my finger. Two shots, one tetanus, a lollipop, and a big bill from urgent care and it was done. My thumb no longer throbs and my arm no longer feels punched (a side effect of the tetanus shot).

The bruise or ghost of a splinter under my thumb.

Although I'm mentioning my little espina episode, I cannot complain. Especially, after visiting my friend Naomi at Touro Brain Rehab. Naomi has been in the hospital for seven weeks after being hit by a car while walking. She is doing much better thanks to her sheer willpower and everyone's prayers. She's working on walking and being able to use her right leg and remembering. She still has no memory of the accident. I suspect she probably will never remember. I am in awe of the progress she has made in the past month. 

Here's to miracles!