Rachel Eliza Griffiths

And

She and I had been trying to make plans to see each other.

So when she called that early, I thought, oh, she's calling me to make plans.

But her voice immediately was very, very different.

And so she said, you know, I'm coming over right now.

Salman's been hurt.

I'll be right there.

And I just didn't know what that meant.

I thought he was up at Chautauqua doing an event.

He's done a lot of events since I've known him, and so I just really didn't understand.

But the way her voice sounded, I knew it was really terrible.

And so I kind of sprang up and was running around the house trying to grab clothes, and I fell down the steps and hurt myself really badly, and she showed up, and, you know, the rest of the day became...

became a nightmare and that was how it was just an ordinary morning and that is kind of sometimes the thing that can shock you and that day remains a mark of a different life that opened up immediately for me when you fell down the stairs

I think falling down the stairs was one of the best things that could have happened to me.

And here's why.

When I got up and realized I hadn't broken my neck or broken a bone, I just really was like, that's the last time you fall down.

You cannot risk your safety.

You cannot be running around with your head off your shoulders.

You need to focus now.

It was very clarifying because literally in seconds, I really had no control of my body, my emotions.