Sunday’s A Taste of Flava

Giving My Walking Somewhere to Take Me

Yesterday, I spent an hour on the phone with My Peace.

We commiserated with each other about getting older, our aching bodies, and these hips that have suddenly decided they need their own medical teams.

My Peace has been doing well since receiving a cortisone injection in his hip last week. His doctor could not say exactly what caused the pain, but it may be the beginning of arthritis.

My own bilateral hip injections are scheduled for Tuesday.

So there we were—two people who have known each other for more than 50 years—talking about cortisone shots, arthritis, mobility, and the reality of bodies that no longer move the way they once did.

This is apparently where life has brought us. 😂

I also told him about my recent medical appointment and the recommendation that I eventually begin returning to work in person.

He was not happy about that.

He knows what my mobility looks like right now. He knows that returning to work requires more than sitting at a desk. I have to safely manage the stairs in my home, transportation, walking into the building, reaching the restroom in time, moving around throughout the day, getting back home, and climbing those stairs again.

But I also told him about the game plan I developed.

I am going to receive my injections, return to physical therapy, work on strength and stability, address my bladder concerns, and begin safely leaving the house more often.

I am considering paying my grandbaby to become my scheduled movement companion for one hour a day, five days a week. She can earn spending money while helping her Nanny remain consistent with walking, intentional movement, and building strength on the stairs.

I finally have somewhere to begin.

Right before My Peace and I ended our call, he said:

“I’m gonna have to get my bride a Power Chair 2000 so she can get around.”

I started laughing so hard.

I told him, “Only you can get away with saying some mess like that to me!”

He had me laughing when I desperately needed to laugh.

That Power Chair 2000 foolishness did not solve my mobility problems, but it released some of the heaviness I had been carrying. It reminded me that even while we are discussing aging, pain, and serious life changes, we can still find something to laugh about.

Then I told him about the Kindle books I bought. He cracked up. 😂

Football Rules & Positions for Dummies

The Game of Basketball

And, of course:

My Hip Hurts!

Yes, I have created myself a complete curriculum. 😂

First, I am going to learn why my hip hurts.

Then, I am going to work on fixing the hip.

After that, I am going to study football rules and positions, learn the game of basketball, and prepare myself to sit beside My Peace without asking a thousand questions while he watches sports.

I told him:

“Next year, when I can walk, I’m going to be at your place watching sports.”

He laughed.

But after we hung up, I thought about what I had said.

For the past few days, I have been thinking about mobility in medical terms.

I need to stand taller.

I need to become stronger.

I need to safely walk.

I need to manage stairs.

I need to leave my house.

I need to prepare for whatever happens with my job.

Those are necessary goals, but they also feel heavy.

Then I pictured myself walking into Jonathan’s place next year and sitting down to watch football or basketball with him.

That felt different.

It gave my walking somewhere joyful to take me.

Sometimes we concentrate so heavily on what our bodies need to do that we forget to identify what we want our improved health to allow us to experience.

Maybe your goal is to walk through a park.

Maybe you want to shop inside your favorite store again.

Maybe you want to attend church, travel, visit a friend, sit at a grandchild’s event, or simply step outside without fear.

The destination does not have to be extravagant.

It only needs to matter to you.

My goal is not simply to complete exercises or prove that I can return to a building.

I want to regain pieces of ordinary life.

I want to safely leave my tower.

I want to ride the bus again.

I want to visit someone I love.

I want to sit beside My Peace, understand what is happening in the game, and probably still ask questions just to irritate him. 😂

That picture gives me something warmer to work toward.

And if my plan takes longer than expected, My Peace apparently already has a backup solution.

His bride will arrive in a fully loaded Power Chair 2000—preferably with leopard-print upholstery, sunflower rims, a cowboy-coffee holder, and enough speed to leave everybody behind.

But first, I am going to give walking another chance.

This time, it has somewhere special to take me.

A Taste of Flava
Straight from my life to yours.

From Flava in Het Tower 🌻