Chivalry isn't dead, it's killing me.

I've got a bump on my head and a headache - all from my friend opening the door for me.

The other day my friend and I attempted to go shopping to try and find him some new clothes.  This friend of mine is a complete gentlemen. He insists on opening car doors, building doors, getting your chair, etc. So as we approached the mall, he went to get the door and I waited.

Quick side note: For those of you who have known me a long time, you may know that I rarely wait for guys to get the door. For a long time I never had a guy friend who got the door. If I saw I door, I'd open it and just bust on through (kind of like Kramer). Why wait? Well I started hanging out with gentlemanly friends and started adopting some patience for these door opening men.

So Friend grabbed the door and I started to walk through and then WHAMO!  The door had slammed me in the head. I was so disoriented from the hit that I just stood there and looked around. I looked back at Friend and his face was frozen in shock. I didn't say anything at first; I just stared at him. I finally mumbled "Did you let go of the door?" Friend felt really bad and just started talking "Damn! Are you okay? Did that nail your head?"  He continued apologizing and then kept muttering about how bad he felt. He said the door just snapped out of his hand.  I started to wonder if maybe he wasn't really ready to get the door for me.  Was I entering the door too prematurely? Was Friend really weak?

Now, my dad taught me a valuable lesson as a child - Suck it Up!  And that's what I did - I sucked it up, told him it wasn't too bad and that I was fine. We started wandering through the mall and my head began throbbing. Luckily we weren't in a huge mood to shop so we ended up wandering the store and just chatting. On our way out he offered to buy me a cookie for hitting me with the door - being the good friend that I am, I accepted my chocolate chip cookie and hoped it would console me. It did, but only for about ten minutes.  On our way out Friend wanted me to see "how crazy the door was and how it just snaps shut on it's own". Well, he was right, this door would open about a foot or so and then it started to pull itself shut again.  I told him that I didn't think he was trying to hurt me intentionally (but maybe...) but that maybe he should lift some weights tonight so he can hold doors open a bit longer.

We ended up driving around and then doing some grocery shopping. He asked me if I was okay, and I said I was fine. Honestly, I was dying! I kept swaying, I felt nauseous and I all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep.

I had plans that night, so I eventually left and thought that if I could just take some pills, eat something and lay down I'd feel better. Well it didn't work. I watched a movie that night and I could barely focus.  I wanted to hold my head where it was hit, but it was too tender.  I thought I'd be able to sleep it off, but my head hurt too bad to lay on that side and, although the pounding had slowed down, it was still dull enough to keep me awake.

So now I have to ask myself - Do I wait for doors to be opened? Do I find stronger friends? Do I give Friend one more chance?

If you don't hear from me soon, I may be unconscious in my room...