A Penchant for Dramaticism : The Cactus Story

Last Friday, at a wedding we were photographing in Arizona, I stepped into cactus. Or it might have jumped out at me. Either way, it was painful (and really stupid). JD and I arrived to the bride's wedding suite to take preparation photos and I gathered the bridal details. After securing her dress, shoes, and jewelry, I walked outside to the patio. I climbed a small wall to shoot the shoes and jewelry against the gorgeous Arizona environment.

Then I felt this intense pain in my lower leg. I looked down and then nearly fainted (JD insists I'm dramatic, but COM'ON!).

I let out a panicked moan and JD looked up from his shooting. I shouted caccccctus!!! and reached down to pull it out with my hand, but JD stopped this epically stupid decision (apparently, cactus in my leg wouldn't have been enough…let's add some to my hand, eh?).

Many thanks to his love for nature survival shows on the Discovery channel (I'm being serious), JD quickly grabbed a piece of wood to pry the cactus from my skin. While he searched for the wood, I did the only thing that made sense: took a photo.

After a few painful attempts, the cactus was pried from my leg. There were about 12 needles that attached to my skin, which resulted in bleeding. My first thought was OH MY GOODNESS I'M SHOOTING A WEDDING RIGHT NOW?!?!?!? Thankfully JD found a towel and dipped a small edge into a nearby jacuzzi and cleaned me up, along with picking out needles that lodged themselves in my shoe.

The whole ordeal was over in five minutes, but it was the longest five minutes of my life (again, this is my dramaticism in full effect). The bride had no idea what happened and outside of the slight limp I rocked for the day, I was fine.

I still have the cactus markings on my leg, serving as reminders to: 1. not climb walls and; 2. mess with the Arizona desert.