Gravity Sucks (or, A Cherry Too Far)

At the beginning of July 2004, I was picking cherries in our back yard. We have several fruit trees, but the cherries were all that was ready at the time.
I was about eight feet up a 20 ft orchard ladder. (An orchard ladder had three legs, so you don't need to lean it against anything.) I had been picking for quite some time, and had emptied several pails into a larger basket. I was about ready to come down with another full pail, when I noticed one succulent cherry off to my left. How had I missed it? As I reached for it, I discovered it was just out of my reach. Hmm. I grabbed onto a branch with my right hand, and leaned over to my left. I had just about plucked the juicy red orb, when I noticed that something wasn't quite right. I was moving!
I looked down and noticed that the earth seemed to be twisting around. I was contemplating jumping when the decision was mde for me. Suddenly branches were smacking my face, and something slammed into me. I came to on the ground, trying to breathe. My wife was there asking if I was okay, and one of my puppies was trying to lick my face.
Eventually I was able to catch my breath, then tried to figure out what had happened. I asked my wife, Liz what I thought were a few questions. I discovered later that I asked her the same questions over and over. I had given myself a concussion, and my short term memory was almost non-existent. I asked questions like:
"Am I on the ground?"
"Did I fall off the ladder?"
"Where are the cherries?"
"Did you know there are holes in the leaves?" (This was quite a revelation to me, since I had never noticed it before.)
After I had asked the same questions about a dozen times Liz decided I needed more help than she could give. She called an ambulance and off I went to the hospital.
My wife works in the emergency ward at the hospital, so everyone knew that her husband was on the way in. I must say I received quite a lot of attention, though I was rather embarrassed.
I was quite fortunate. I scraped my left leg up, and strained my back and chest, but I didn't break anything. The x-ray didn't show anything horrible, and after they gave me a couple of little pills I began to feel quite warm and cozy. ;-)
All in all, it could have been quite a lot worse. Liz told me afterwards that she had watched the whole thing from the kitchen window. I came down horizontally and body slammed the earth. The following week two other guys fell off of ladders: one fella broke an ankle, and the other broke his pelvis! Ouch!
Needless to say, my wife won't let me climb any more ladders. I'm fine with that, because, as I mentioned above, Gravity Sucks!