I never thought this would happen to me.

Last night, I was sitting in the top row of the gym bleachers cheering on my boys in their final home game of the season. I like sitting up there because I can lean back on the wall.

During a timeout, I pulled the iPhone out of my bag to check messages. Not much going on, so I slid the iPhone into the back pocket of my Urban Reporter 150. Or so I thought.

Instead, the iPhone went in to a free fall along the wall down the back of the bleachers. Yes, I had missed the pocket and essentially dropped the iPhone 5s from the top of the stands to the floor.

Just a day before, I had swapped out cases, and the device was sporting a Tech21 D3O Impact Case. It features "Impactology". It's no joke. Here's a snippet from their product description.

"The D3O is a patented protective material that combines enhanced chemistry with product engineering to produce high performance shock absorption and impact protections solutions. The same revolutionary technology is used by the US Special Forces and Ministry of Defence as well as in Sports such as motorcycling and skiing."

After I had realized that I had dropped the case, Theresa volunteered to climb under the stands to retrieve it for me. That's not really a tall guy activity. And I so appreciated the gesture.

Minutes later, she returned with my phone. It worked perfectly. There wasn't scratch on it. The case wasn't even scuffed. It had literally dropped from the top of the gym, to the wood floor, and was perfectly fine.

In my mind, this is both a testament to the excellent construction of the iPhone 5s and the space age design of the Tech 21 case.

Talk about dodging a bullet...

-Derrick