After The Fall

Occasionally we are faced with a situation in which we have never experienced.  This happened to me recently during our great trip to New England with my daughter and son-in-law.  I am calling this "after the fall" with apologies to Arthur Miller and I want to begin with the incident and what occurred afterwards.
We were standing on a lovely beach in Acadia National Park in Maine and headed through the sand towards some stone steps that we needed to climb to head back to the parking lot.  As I stepped on the first sandy step my right leg buckled under me and I fell backwards....hard!  It was one of those falls in which you have no control or way to break your fall.  As I fell backward my head struck a rock outcropping and it really rang my chimes!  In retrospect I may have temporarily blacked out and it really hurt!  As you know, a head wound bleeds very profusely.  In my case it was further exacerbated because I have been on a blood thinner, Plavix, for several years.  I can knick myself shaving and it takes forever to stop.  Pam and Darryl were a few steps behind me and were there to help me instantly.  With their help I was able to sit up with blood pouring down my head and shoulders.  I was dazed, confused and scared that I had ruined our vacation.  
That's the incident.  The purpose for this essay is to talk about after the fall.  I was instantly surrounded by a group of very concerned people.  A woman showed up with a towel for Pam to use to staunch the strong flow of blood.  There was a couple next to us who helped Darryl and Pam get me up and stayed with us until I was able to get up the stairs.  Several other people on the beach came to offer their help.  Pam said to me later that she knew that I was embarrassed, but actually that was not the case.  Even though I was still hearing bells I was very touched at all the concern that I could see on their faces.  
Someone posted a meme on Facebook recently that rather fit this situation.  "When you fall and everyone laughs you are still young. When you fall and they show concern it means you're old!"  
There was an off duty Park Ranger on the beach who offered to call someone to get me to the top of the hill.  I was able to regain some semblance of sense and assured them that I could make it.  As Pam and I sat in the parking lot waiting for Darryl to get the car some other people stopped by with offers of first aid kits and such.  They managed to get me back to the motel, Darryl went after "stuff" to take care of the wound and we determined that there was no concussion because my pupils were not dilated.  They patched me up and I sported a big bandage on my noggin during the night and the next day.  
Now, you might ask, why am I writing this?  It's not that I fell.  It's because of the coming together of so many people who were genuinely concerned about my welfare.  We often hear people bemoaning the fact that people are reticent to get involved.  This was certainly not the case in this situation.  These were people from many different places showing concern for a silly old Texas dude who "busted" his head.  I am convinced that this was not an isolated case, but rather the norm for people around us.  It was very reassuring.  
It did not slow down our vacation.  I just hid my bandages under my baseball cap to keep it in place and off we went.  I will say that it further convinced me that I'm not 50 years old anymore and I need to be careful on stairs. Maybe this was the point that needed to be made.  
Growing old, as they say, is not for sissies.