A Mistake That Sticks

When it comes to mistakes, I’ve made so many, I could fill a whole journal. Though, there is one, or kind of two that come to mind. These two mistakes form one bigger mistake. That I know is completely my fault. These mistakes, I made a little over a year ago. It still sticks with me, literally. On my inner calf on my right leg is a faint scar. A constant reminder of the dumb mistake I made. It was my fault, and now I’m constantly stuck looking at it.

A little over a year ago, it was early September. That day was Monday, which meant I had drama after school. Usually, I would get a ride home from school from my mom. However, that night my mom and stepdad had a concert they wanted to go to. If they wanted to make it they would have to leave home at 3:30, and drama club ends at 4:00. So, as a result, I had to walk home. Which is fine, because my mom bought Chinese food and left it in the fridge before she left for the concert. Which is completely fine by me. So, at 4:00 when drama club ended, I was excited to get home and eat. Blinded by my vision of crab rangoons, I decided to take the shorter path to my house, which is through the woods. This was my first mistake because it had been a long time since I walked through there. I forgot that they had been doing construction out there behind my home. So, as a result, most of the trail was gone and it was just straight up woods. There was only the beginning part of the trail, and the end part, no middle. I did not realize this until I got to the part where the trail ended. My second mistake was deciding not to turn back, and go the other way. Instead, I forged my way through the uncleared woods. Which was not a good idea with a heavy backpack, a coffee cup in one hand, and a lunch box in the other. As I forced my way through the woods to my home, my leg got caught on a sharp bush branch and when I tried to pull away it scratched up my inner calf on my right leg. After getting away from that the same thing happened to my left arm but not as deep, and smaller. My hair got caught on two different branches after that. Despite all of that, I continued to forage through, and eventually made it home. When I turned the key and walked inside, my dog looked at me confused. She probably didn’t even recognize me. I looked like a mess, sweating, frizzy hair, leaves in my hair, blood dripping from my thigh and arm. All because I wanted to take the quicker path to get my Chinese food. In the end, I had to shower and clean myself up from my woodland adventure. So in the long run I would have been able to eat sooner if I had just taken the long way home.

At that moment I wanted to blame my mom for not being able to give me a ride home. I wanted to blame her for my scars. I was in denial. However, the more I thought about it, I realized. I can only blame myself for making two mistakes. The scar I still have on my right inner thigh is a mistake I made. I chose to take the shorter way home, not my mom. So now when I tell the story to others, I tell them it was my mistake. Mistakes I’m not proud of, but my own.

Featured image: “Forest” by daniepd2012 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Additional image: “Crab Rangoon” by sim sandwich is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.