The Body Breakdown

I’m pissed. I don’t want to sound like every other 44 year old out there who is finding out how frail the body is, but really, there’s no way to prepare for this. I have been walking 12-15 miles a week for 9 years now. Nine years! And I’m not talking about strolling—we sweat, we get breathless and sometimes when we are feeling complacent, we jog. But even so, I recognized that that wasn’t enough. My knee needed a little repair work that required surgery about 20 months ago. Ok, that wasn’t so bad. I started yoga and pilates twice a week. This summer, I have been working out with a (paid) personal trainer once or twice a week and she’s kicking my ass but good. I’ve been doing this for three months and I can feel the burn in my abs as I write this (I worked out just two hours ago). I’m wearing shorts I couldn’t fit into two years ago—and they are loosely comfortable and my butt is, well, almost tight. I’m happy about all of this even if I have to spend 10 hours a week to achieve these results (like that’s going to keep happening once school starts), but…

My eyes are betraying me. One month ago, everything is great. Two weeks ago, I’m struggling while stitching one evening and as my husband walked by, with his reading glasses hooked into his shirt, I get an idea.

“Hey—hand me those, will ya?”

OMG! OMG! The holes in the fabric suddenly bloomed to sizes heretofore never seen. Stitching resumed at breakneck speed. Absolutely amazing! But what has happened to my eyes? Why is the world fuzzy? Why can’t I go to the gym and do some eye rolls and pupil lifts and see like I always have? And I know this is going to cost me lots of money. I already have contacts and now I’m going to have to get new ones. I did buy reading glasses at Target for only $9, but I know I’m going to have to buy more. One pair for school, two pairs for home as I’ll be like my husband, always searching. Cripes! It pisses me off. And my elbow hurts. And my brachial-radial pruitis is back in full swing, but that’s another post. I could have made this much longer.

Change in Focus

I’ve been told my posts are too long for a blog, and I believe that’s true. Certainly, since I’ve managed 2 posts in 2 years, I’m doing something wrong. So I have to change my focus and my approach. This will no longer be compositions of things I never got to write about—it’ll just be things I feel like writing about. So here goes…