Just Because

Today was my first day out of my home without any walking assistance from a cane or crutch in, let me see, eight months. I walked with a slight limp, really trying to concentrate on the whole heel-to-toe gait. To say that I was all smiles is minimalistic. 

Funny aside, while I was grocery shopping a woman came up to me and said she noticed I was in pain. I tilted my head back and belly laughed. She seemed slightly troubled. I told her my story, truncated of course, and she didn’t know what to do. She smiled, handed me her business card, and let me know that if I ever needed her services, then I should give her a call. She was a chiropractor. She definitely didn’t see any pain on my face. Not today.

I finally slept deeply last night. I unplugged the phone, traipsed upstairs where my real bed is, and passed out. Except for the occasional moving my dog’s elbow (do dogs have elbows?) out of my ribs, I hardly moved. I awoke when my body was ready. I was thoroughly rested. I’ve been having a difficult time because I’ve taken naps in the late afternoons because I get tired easily and have been mentally stalking Gerard Butler in my head before I drift off. I can conjure some great love scenes, especially if he’s dressed as Attila or whatever his name was in the movie “300.” 

I went to the Mercy Wellness Center today. No great hot tub topics because I was the only person in the water. However, there were quite a few people in the pool. Two ladies in the shallow end noticed my grin. I shared my story. One of the ladies commented, in an ornery way, that I needed to watch out for the men in the deep end because they’d just finished playing water volleyball and were “juiced up.” I took that as a challenge and told the men to break it up, a woman was entering their masculine realm. I garnered some chuckles from that comment, and then listened to the men’s conversation. They were talking about how silly it is that some women complain about their hair getting wet when they’re in the pool. I nodded and then proceed to completed 45 minutes of low-impact water aerobics. 

As I was ready to finish up…a young, tanned, extremely fit, twenty-something man walked into the pool ready to teach water exercises for those with arthritis. Not within his ear shot, I told others that I was already done but maybe I could squeak out another 45 minutes being that the conditions of the pool had changed in my favor. One of the other women told me that I was “so bad.” I nodded, “Yes, I am.” As so many women my age and older have said: “I’m old. I’m not dead.” For a brief, glorious moment, I pushed Gerard Butler out of my head because I witnessed male yumminess in the flesh. 

As I left the Mercy Wellness Center, I thanked the women at the front desk for the wonderful finish to my workout. The older woman smiled and said she was glad they could accommodate. The younger gal kept sipping on her Starbucks green, iced tea and nodding nervously. I figured that she’s either dating or wanting to date him. Either way, I told them that’d I’d be back tomorrow…just because. 

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety. Other women cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies." --William Skakespeare