Getting Older and other things

There are many signs that one is getting older. The graying of the hair. The losing of the hair. The memory fading. And the body doing strange things.

Last Saturday, I was playing flag football and I received the ball, made a cut and was tackled, both literally and figuratively, and drove my right knee into the ground. So, I got up and took a step back to the huddle and my knee had a little give to it. And when I tried to run I heard this clicking sound in my knee. I stayed in for a couple more plays until halftime, even catching a ball and futily hopping on one leg toward the end zone before the safety flagged me at the 5-yard line. But I decided to be a man and stop so I wouldn't hurt myself worse. To make a long story short, I went to ARC's Far West clinic which has after-hours care and got myself a wheelchair ride, some X-rays that were negative, a leg immobilizer and some crutches. The last two things are very good for sympathy. A quick side note: my friend Fen's team was gracious enough to go a man down for the second half when they realized I was done for the game. An absolute splendid show of sportsmanship and Christian character.

Lemme tell you, you don't realize how much your knee means to you until you can't use it properly. For instance, I still can't bend it all the way back, which makes squatting impossible. Neither could I chase after M in my normal way. I like to get on my hands and knees and hit the floor announcing "Daddy's gonna gitcha!", which is shortly followed by my little one giggling and running away. I've been able to do it a little bit as my knee has gotten better, but it's just not the same. One other interesting thing is when you have restless legs and you have an immobilizer on. It's darn near impossible to get that puppy to sleep. But one of the highlights was driving home with the immobilizer on. Now, as I'm sure most of you have done, when I get bored on long drives or when my foot starts to hurt, I'll switch 'em and drive with my left foot. So, thankfully I've had practice making my left foot an ambidextrous driver. So I open the passenger door, pull myself through, get my leg in and then the crutches. Now the tricky part was that my leg was pushing against the shifter, so that it wasn't locking in Drive. So I had my right leg in the passenger side, my right hand holding the shifter in Drive, my left foot handling the braking and accelerating, and my left hand steering. I know if I'd've seen that next to me, I would've had a few laughs. So, "You're Welcome" to those of you who cracked a grin my way that day.

This morning I got to get M ready by myself since C was playing her violin for church. Wow! So much respect to those moms who get their basketball teams ready and to church on Sunday mornings. Let's just say that, although M's hair wasn't perfect and I left the Bible at home, we got there at 9:30. And that was with some mild speeding. But it was an interesting experience that showed me exactly why C wants to get ready before M wakes up. Makes total sense now.

Anyway, we had a fun afternoon with Bible study friends. Good burgers. Good fellowship. Good times. I must go now. Tis ev'n, and I needs my beauty rest.

Have a great week.

R