Good morning everyone and welcome to my humble abode, GirlieOnTheEdge. Seems I don’t quite have a handle on the time thing yet. Thankfully, both the Six Sentence Stories and Ten Things of Thankful blog hops allow for those who oversleep and such. Thank you and thank you Josie! she who is on vacation at….the beach.
Jealous I am of Ms. Two Shoes as the beach is like the air to me. I’ve been suffocating a long time but luckily I have some tanks filled with other, substitute like things, that keep me going 🙂 So, in no particular order of happening or priority, forward ho!
TToT I am most thankful that I am not bedridden. I am thankful that I have acknowledged the wake up call and confident I will act upon it. As a clark, all things are of the future. Oh, we mean well and all and we can be quite spontaneous and in the moment but….there is a tendency to indulge a tad too much in the concept of our own mortality. See, being forever young, we often forget that there is an end date. An end date unknown. That unknown date must be remembered.
TToT You ask about the bedridden? Friday, as I was putting on my jeans (thank goodness it was casual Friday at the office), the spring located in the lower lumbar region of my back (is there a lower lumbar region? or is it all the lumbar region?) broke, popped, and otherwise put me on my knees. Dammit! I’ll be late to work.
TToT I’m thankful that yesterday was so beautiful. Was booked from morning to early afternoon. Hair appointment, lunch with a friend and former co-worker.
TToT Speaking of hair. I’m pretty fortunate my hair stylist is a clark. Sometimes she’s chatty, sometimes I am and sometimes we’re both pretty quiet. Yesterday? Yesterday, we both had our secondary scottian aspects flailing about the salon. I guess I don’t have to tell you that my hair came out a little…different lol
TToT Small, kind gestures from strangers. The gestures of which I speak occurred in the same location, in 2 consecutive weeks. I buy my fruits and vegetables from a Korean market not far from where I live. Most of the folks who patronize this particular market speak English as a second language or not at all. Korean and Spanish are their first languages. Why is this important? Because it’s a reminder that gestures transcend words, language. (damn, here’s another long assed thankful. did you grab a beverage? good) In both instances, I was standing in front of the apple bins having just taken a plastic bag off the roll so I could fill it with Fuji and Honey Crisp goodness. Well, the bag would not separate at the top! I tried rubbing it between my palms – nothing. I tried and tried, standing semi-patiently but knowing in retrospect my face was telling a different story. Totally oblivious to my surroundings, I looked up to see one of the store workers who had been across the aisle unloading a pallet of bananas, standing in front of me, hand outstretched, a plastic bag open and at the ready. No words except a smile and thank you from me. The following week, same damn thing in the same place only this time? I was well aware of frowning and may even have been muttering to myself lol. A few minutes earlier, I had noticed a couple and their son who I guessed to be about 20 shopping together. They were speaking Spanish. It’s kind of a cramped market, not a lot of room in the aisles so I smiled and squeezed by them to get to the apples. Once again, oblivious to the world around me, focusing solely on getting a stupid plastic bag open so I could load it with said apples, I look up to see the young man. He’d come around from the other side of the bins. He stood there silently, smiling, holding an open plastic bag for me. I returned his smile and thanked him. Kindness. It doesn’t need translation.
TToT That I’ve found a suitable spot to place my laptop to that I may type standing up. You who’ve had the back thing know – it’s either standing, walking or lying flat on the floor, however it takes to feel better. I’m typing tall today, people 😀
TToT the Wakefield Doctrine.
TToT While an oft cited thankful, I’m very thankful for the internet, for having a laptop, for having access to so much more of the world than I could ever imagine.
TToT For you all.
TToT This day. Another opportunity… my challenge.
GirlieOnTheEdge's Blog 
Ouch! I’m sorry about your back, and hope that you are feeling better soon.
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Thank you, Kristi. As long as I don’t sit down I’m pretty good 😀
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Hey, Denise. I haven’t posted yet, but I thought I’d stop by and see what’s doing. I’m sorry about your back. There’s nothing worse than not being able to be comfortable. I know, even sleeping hurts, at certain times. I chuckled at that plastic bag thing; it happens to me all the time. The part about not being able to open them. I don’t think I have enough oil on my fingers to separate the plastic edges. It was difficult getting my fingerprints taken for the job. Anyway, it’s nice there was a compassionate being who could help your conundrum. You do like apples, don’t you? Big beach breaths soon.
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Nice to see you Val. Thank you. Yeah, surprised the hell out me that’s for sure.
It drives me nuts! One time I went and put my fingers on some ice, which seemed to do the trick.
Hey, an apple a day right? 😀
*sigh* I so miss it….
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Oh, ouch! I hope nothing serious happened in your lower lumbar region and that you will heal quickly.
That unknown end date seems ever closer and is something I don’t like to think about, but realistically it could be another 25 years for me, or anytime in between. Nothing certain. I’m just hoping for a quality of life that I can enjoy and not be a burden to anyone.
I have often thought to myself, what if it where just me in the house, would I just have to starve or take some kind of drastic measures just to open what is supposed to be easy? Could be a conspiracy against the older folk or physical impaired. Just kidding, but it can be so frustrating. Licking one’s fingers sometimes helps to open a plastic bag, but doing that after having touched the cart, and other things in the store maybe isn’t the healthiest approach. I’m glad you had several someones come to your rescue.
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Thank you Pat. Not sure what it is. I’ve had it happen before but not in years. Been taking Advil and doing light stretches. Fingers crossed by this weekend I’ll have all but forgotten it ever happened!
That is key for sure – not being a burden to anyone and being able to live independently.
Well, if you were alone, I believe your creativity would come to the rescue! While I haven’t been following through with my own self, I’m a proponent of strength training for people of all ages. There has been study after study of people over the age of 60 who began lifting weights or using dumbbells in a regular exercise routine, who have grown muscle, become stronger. It is one of those things that doesn’t really have an age limit with benefits that may come in handy one day 🙂
Ew, no! no licking for me!
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Sorry to hear about your back, i get it to an extent and Sweetie to an even greater extent. Kindness does transcend language, your story makes me smile.
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Thanks, Mimi. So! You two know exactly what I’m talking about. Wish you didn’t 🙂
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Great list of thankfuls. Sorry about your back though.
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Thanks 🙂 And thank you again. Time will work it’s magic 😀
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Ouch!
Three cheers to typing tall today, until you’re feeling better. Hope it’s soon.
I am glad you had help with the bags, as apples are important and I wouldn’t want you to have to go without them.
I find gestures difficult, as I can’t possibly learn every language now, at my age. When I was at a writing workshop in Mexico, we went on a day trip and the workshop leader got me a guide to help me, but the guide spoke no English and I couldn’t speak to her in Spanish. It made it tricky to communicate, but even we found ways. She would let me walk with my white cane, but would gently touch my upper arm when she was worried about me. It was an amazing day, though the whole thing was.
Glad for walking/standing/lying down, even with back pain. I was just watching a segment/interview with a young man who was injured in the bus crash here in Canada a few weeks ago, a hockey team, and this was a talk with one of the guys who survived, but is now in a wheelchair, probably for the rest of his life. Watching it made me cry.
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Thanks Kerry.
Apples are important! Besides tasting great and being the main ingredient in one of my favorite pies…they’re full of good things for our bodies 😀
I’d say that made it very tricky – neither one of you speaking the other’s language. I’m glad you both were able to find ways to communicate with each other. That would have made for a very long day if you could not! I admire your courage and setting the fear aside to allow for your sense of adventure and desire to travel to carry you clear across one country to another to learn more about your craft.
Yes. I may be uncomfortable, in pain, but I am mobile. I can walk. I often remind myself of how lucky I am. I would have cried too watching that interview. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must be like. You get up in the morning, life is normal, you’re healthy. By the end of the day you are anything but and then have to be told you’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Very sad.
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