All right, I couldn't resist sharing my own "shark bite" story.
Five years ago I got into a pretty bad ATV or four wheeling accident with my cousin. We were being stupid and I got hurt. My foot got pulled under the tire of the four wheeler and I was pulled about 10 feet. The entire left side of my body from the waist down was bruised, I had multiple abrasions and did something to the tendons in my foot that put me on crutches for a week. Of course the first thing people do whenever they see you on crutches is offer the, "that looks like it hurts smile" and follow up by asking what happened to put you on crutches.
After explaining the story to people for two or three days, I decided that I had to come up with a better answer than my own stupidity that lead to the four wheeling accident. Instead of looking stupid, I wanted something that was going to make seem like a bad ass. So, I started telling people I was bit by a shark. Now the real beauty in the story is that I was still living in Ohio when this happened. The accident actually happened a year before I moved to Florida, and it happened in the middle of an old bean field. I did my best to keep a straight face when I told people I was bit by a shark, and surprisingly more people believed my fabricated story than I had ever expected. In fact the story went over so well, I started adding more to it.
It really was my own stupidity that landed me in the situation. I have two long scars, although now they're not as recognizable as they once were that run the length of my calf and two very recognizable scars on the top of my left foot. I learned later on that the majority of shark attacks occur off of the Great Barrier Reef, or close to Sydney Australia. Of course if you've grown up in Sidney, Ohio you've grown accustomed to people automatically assuming you're referring to Australia and not Ohio when you tell them you're from Sidney. So the fact that I was visiting my Dad's family who lived just outside of Sidney when I "was bit by a shark" really only added to my tale.
Since moving to Florida whenever anyone asks me about the origins of the scars I tell them about the time I was bit by a shark. I told the story two or three more times before I realized that my favorite beach in Florida also happens to be the place where people are most often bit by sharks. Congratulations Brittney! You move to Florida, and people actually believe you when you tell them you've been bit by a shark. Of course whenever you talk about a shark bite in Florida, everyone wants to know which beach you were visiting at the time. Now, I tell everyone it happened when I was staying with my cousins just outside of Sidney (Sydney), where I grew up, when it happened.
A few of my friends giggle when I retell the story and other roll their eyes. Bottom line though, it's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Hope everyone had a great Shark Week!
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