Arrrrgh…

So, Sunday was shaping up to be another fairly decent day. Went to the store with Karyl and then back to the house. Plan was a little yard work and then a nice ride before fencing practice. Notice I said the plan was. It changed, real quickly. After one project got out of hand (3 trips to Lowe’s) and the death of not one, but two chainsaws, I slipped in the mud beside the house. Now normally this is not a big deal, normally. IT became a big deal. Seems I wrenched my back quite severely. It hurt in one of those the whole world goes white kind of pains then settled down to just be horrific. Took my shower and was still sore, so I grabbed a few aspirin type things, something I normally do not do, and settled down for a quick nap. When Judi woke me up is when I realized something was severely wrong. I could barely move. Walking of any type was an adventure in new forms of pain and numbness. So, no ride, no fencing, no joy to be had. I played couch potato for the evening and went on the wild drug ride just to keep comfortable. I now also believe I need access to much better drugs.



Today, on the other hand, is a little better. I am walking and moving, although not at full pace. So, I plan another evening of rest and we shall see. I hope my doctor gets moved into his new offices here fairly soon. He, unlike many doctors, actually listens to me, so we shall have to see. I really do not want surgery but it may be darkly looming on the horizon for one reason or the other. I am not afraid of the idea of the surgery, but I do have a hesitancy whenever I have anyone take a knife to my person when I am asleep. Perhaps it is a fear of not waking up, or the even more frightening “OOPS”. I’ll make sure that he understand (or the surgeon) that if there is an oops involved, he should not worry about his malpractice insurance being up to date, but he may wish to look to his life insurance. I think that is fair. Warning in advance, cripple me and I will blow your head off. No malice, no meanness, just simple fact. If you do this then you are fully aware of the repercussions. Best get a full nights rest before you ever thing of putting a blade to my spine. If you cannot deal with this, then I will go somewhere else. I do not want any doctor who feels he cannot abide by my rules. If he questions his own ability even a little, I do not want him.



Anyway, on to some more things not quite as depressing or potentially violent. So I was thinking about something as I drove about yesterday. When did we loose our ability as people to “hang out”? Remember getting a group of friends together and just walking around, talking about life and the universe? Maybe a cup of coffee or something, no actual plan of anywhere to be and no schedule other than a curfew? Seems to me, as we get older we begin to isolate ourselves. The first step I can think of is one may people may never consider, learning to drive. When in a group the first one who learns to drive and has access to an automobile the group becomes a little smaller and now more mobile. The car will only carry so many. So as more learn to drive, the quantity of people begins to drop until there is usually just the driver and one other person. Makes for some interesting discussions many times but over a period, even that person goes away. So now you have us isolated in our little rolling cubes, with our music, our preferred temperature and our air fresheners, the ultimate in self contained environmental control. This usually takes place at a point in life where we have very little control of our environs, so it does make sense. Soon, jobs and extended family life begin to take the toll even further. We have meetings and seminars to take up our time. We have to hurry since we do not want to be late, heaven forbid! If we are very lucky we find someone who we can share our lives with in a very intimate manner, but even then, time keeps us isolated for one reason or another. We strive for “Quality Time” with our other half or our family or children. Point of fact, there is no quality time, there is only time. What we do with is determines quality. Perhaps we should look into de-isolation more. Maybe this is a purely American phenomenon as we are so auto-centric. I treasure the time I get to spend with Judi and my friends, perhaps more so than I should. Being one who gets affected by quality logic I think much of this has to do with a simple statement: Live every day as if it is your last, as it just may be.



Consider for a moment, if your life ended at the end of this day how many things you might list as “I wish I would have taken the time to…” Frightening list, isn’t it? So I leave you with my usual signature line, but after reading this missive you may think about it a little more than normal:



Till next time,

Be mindful and awake.