Any Given Tuesday

There are many days that are not pretty. Things don’t go as planned.

The new laptop battery does not actually work, and you spend time watching YouTube videos to troubleshoot, and then figuring out how to return the darn thing. This is okay because you can put the old battery back in the laptop until you can get this sorted.

You were were supposed to return to the doctor for a follow-up visit today, but you didn’t receive even one of those automated reminders by way of text or email, so you call to check. And, sure enough, you don’t have an appointment today (despite the appointment card that was handed directly to you by the receptionist which says otherwise). In fact, you don’t have an appointment on the books at all. This is okay because you are slowly healing from the pinched nerve on your own anyway.

We all have some version of days that begin just like this. Where nothing goes just as it should. This is our morning. We’ve decide to make the most of things and head to Chick-fil-A for breakfast. I’m not complaining. Now we have a free day with nothing we absolutely have to do. A good day for a trip to the library, a favorite coffee shop, or a short hike before the day gets too hot. Most things are figure-outable.

These Days I am Thankful for Benches

I’m quitting, but ask me in 2 weeks.

I have reached the age where I can cause injury to myself simply by squatting and standing up. If I am to tell the whole truth, I’ve pushed my body pretty hard over the past 6 months. Photography is a physical activity. And I love that part. But, I’ve spent a lot of time in fields of flowers, squatting low and standing up and down, over and over again, carrying a heavy camera. I’ve also spent a lot of time setting up still life images, holding various positions for way too long. Still, I wouldn’t trade one minute of the whole process.

Well, I would re-think a few minutes of work, when I knew I should stop and rest, but did not. It’s been just over 2 weeks since the searing, throbbing, radiating pain spread down my left hip and into my leg. That’s two weeks of anti-inflammatory medication, heat, physical therapy, and intense pain with standing and walking, and really just all day long. At first, the pain was so great, I just collapsed into tears. I could not eat or think or sleep. But the human body is a marvel, and it will heal given time and proper care. I’m on the mend from what my doctor thinks was a compressed spinal nerve. In the meantime, I am incredibly grateful for my husband, who has taken such good care of me, and for this day, when I felt up to a walk in a beautiful place.