My pride prevents me from telling y’all how I crushed a bunch of bones in my elbow, and tore my triceps muscle. I have a very difficult time accepting the fact that I am almost 69 years old because I don’t see myself that way, nor do I feel that way. Let’s just say that it is kind of like that line from Top Gun when the captain tells Tom Cruise, “Son, your brain is writing checks that your body can’t cash.” I did something that would have been no problem 25 years ago, but it became a real problem when my agility was not what it should have been now.
I always knew that I would get older. How fast it has happened has been a bit of a surprise, though. I was kidding with my doctor , and asked him what if he told me that I only had six months to live, and I told him that I couldn’t pay my bill. He quickly told me that he would give me six more months to live. Gotta love a doctor with a sense of humor.
I was sent home on Friday with the instructions to do absolutely nothing until I had my post-op follow up on Monday. Do any of you have any idea how difficult “doing nothing” can be. I had “Attila The Nurse” guarding me like a hawk. I was in no pain, but I finally decided Sunday afternoon that a slow, short walk couldn’t hurt me. I had read several books, and stared at four walls as long as I could stand it. BAAADD MOOVVEE on my part. I reawakened the pain beast, but I now have it back under control. I think that I will listen to the doctor and Martha for the rest of my recovery period.
Since it is difficult to type with one hand, and it takes a real effort to hit the capital letter button with my left hand, let me close with two short things. The first one is something I read while the last comment came from my own mind.
- Be the reason someone smiles today, or the reason they drink. Whatever works.
- This last one is my own thought, and I ran across it as I was looking at some old notes that I had written for some speech a while back—“Character determines conduct. Conduct reveals character.”
Frankly, I never realized that I ever possessed such deep thoughts, but you would be surprised what you discover when you are sentenced to “house arrest.” I haven’t prayed for rain since the great flood of 1994. I’m equally afraid to pray for the rain to stop for fear that we might turn into the Sahara Desert, but we really could use some dry weather, and that’s a very strange thing to say down here at this time of the year. I hope everyone is having a great summer!