I'm Normal!

 At the opening of the musical The Fantastiks, The Girl has a lovely monologue that ends "Please, God, don't let me be normal". Often I have quoted that to myself until this morning when I was so grateful to discover I'm very normal. 

I was listening to a discussion about the new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people being able to go without masks in most situations and the opening of restaurants, churches, schools, society in general. I have said over the last several weeks, "I found it easier to shut down than I am finding it to open up again". An epidemiologist asked her blog listenings how they were feeling about getting back to pre-pandemic life and 79% of them said they were anxious. Thank You!! 

One woman even said she had been looking forward to going out, setting up play dates for her children, and now that she could, she wasn't sure she really wanted to. Last week friends were in town and asked to meet us for lunch. Whoa! I wasn't sure about that at all. We went. We ate outside. Everyone around us arrived masked until our food arrived. I made it through that first baby step. 

The doctors in this discussion all said we had to listen to our own emotional well-being and so I felt fine about what I was doing which is exactly that. Normal for me means listening to my body and not feeling pushed to do or be something I am uncomfortable doing. Please, God, let me be normal!!

The Workout Advantage

 Most of you know I now have a personal trainer for about 18 months with a long break because of the pandemic restrictions. I have slowly been regaining my strength and have known over the last couple of months that I was getting stronger - confirmed both by my trainer and by my massage therapist and just by the things I am able to do with more ease. So - working out two days a week has been helpful. 

Thursday night three of us (Dean, me and our friend Jessica) had had dinner on the front deck. I was carrying two plates with some steak fat and gristle on them back inside when I tripped over the door jamb. The plates flew out of my hands, my arms went out to protect me, and I landed slam on my already sore knee. OUCH!

So there I was, laid out on the floor, surrounded by broken plates, steak fat and juice, holding my knee and crying and practically screaming "Oh God, my knee! Oh God, my knee!!" Dean and Jessica were right beside me of course and together we eventually got me up at which point we realized my knee was very sore, probably bruised but in no way broken or damaged even. They got me in a chair, elevated my leg, put an ice pack on the knee, gave me Ibuprofen,  and brought me my dessert (Akira's chocolate pudding!). 

I am fine. Just sore. And the reason for the subject of this blog is that I have fallen before, I know what it is like for several days afterwards and I just have not had that this time! Even the day after I was able to walk around my deck, do some mild arm exercises with my 3 pound weights, and rest comfortably. There is no way I could have done that without the benefit of my workouts and getting stronger. I never thought that surviving a face plant would be one of the benefits of working out. 

And so you know - the initials used by massage therapists (RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for me now stands for Rest, Ice, Chocolate pudding, Elevation.