Maybe I've written about this before. I'm almost certain that I've at least hinted to it before. I really don't remember.
Actually, that's one of the "phantom" issues I'll be referencing in this post; forgetting things.
As a child, I bounced! I don't mean in the whole "Choc-ful-o-energy" type bounciness that most kids have, but I did have that. No, I'm referring to things I would do as a kid. For example, when my friends and I would play this game on my bunk bed where we would take turns laying on my top bunk and rolling off over the side, falling to the ground. That must've been a good five feet drop to the ground. Now, we weren't nuts, we'd lay pillows on the ground and aim for them, but, quite often, we'd miss.
We'd bounce. Then we'd get back up, brush it off and do it again. This was the same for running around like lunatics and falling on our face. We'd bounce and tumble, get back up and brush it off and go at it again. Which was the same for any foolish thing we could think of.
Hell, we'd even practice having bike accidents. We'd ride our bikes at full speed into a ramp or a wall or even over the "cliff" edge of a dirt mound and we would jump off at the last minute, y'know, so we would be more prepared to handle an accident for real.
So, I did these silly things quite often. Sometimes they
would hurt. Sometimes they would not. Regardless of pain or no pain, I
would bounce back up and do it again!
We were kids.
We were daring.
We were pretty convinced we were indestructible.
WE WERE STUPID!
So, I survived and I got smarter. As a kid, I had no idea that stuff that hurt me could SERIOUSLY HURT ME! But as a grown up, I came to realize that I needed to avoid doing such stupidity.
As I recall, the last time that I was overly stupid in an effort that led to me hurting myself must've been the first two times I sprained an ankle. The first time I sprained an ankle was when I was in the lobby of my freshman dorm at college. I was "a bit" intoxicated when I leaped over a couch. I landed badly (but probably better than I should have) and managed to sprain my ankle.
The second sprain was stupid on a level of intentionally-crashing-my-bike-stupid! About 6 or so weeks after my first ankle sprain, I was walking through the lobby of my freshman dorm at college. I saw the couch. A friend asked me how I sprained my ankle. I was somewhat intoxicated (again) so I showed him. I leaped over the same couch and sprained the other ankle.
CLASSIC ME!!!!
Since then, I have opted to not go out of my way for an injury. And for a few decades, I was doing well.
Then, I hit 40!
When you hit forty bad things start to happen to you physically. It's nothing traumatic.
Just annoying.
And irritating.
And frustrating.
And pathetic.
Yes, you forget things more frequently; like, where are your keys, did you turn the stove off, where are your sunglasses, have you blogged about this before.... simple stuff. It's nothing drastic.
You may also develop Presbyopia which all you youngsters may recognize as old people holding something as far away from their face as possible in an effort to read it. Old people may recognize this as when you realize how much you despise the young person who just asked you to read a label knowing damn well that you can't do it because your arm isn't long enough.
But you also get the "Phantom Pains (ergo the title)" that may occur from time to time. For example, I once hurt my thumb running my fingers through my hair. I don't know how.
I pulled my back out leaning on a bathroom counter while brushing my teeth and while shaving and once while trying to look at myself in a mirror.... any "leaning over" experience can lead to back strain.
I once sprained an ankle walking about ten feet across a room, on a flat surface, indoors, with absolutely no distractions....
I could go on. Things just start to hurt and I've heard it gets worse.
At some point, it dawned on me that I may be making up for all of the things I did to myself as a kid from which I "bounced" back. I am paying for the damage I did back then. Seriously, I hurt a heel quite badly when I was four or five. In the last year, right where my scar is on that heel, I have started having a daily shooting pain that feels like someone driving a spike into my heel. It hurts like hell!!!
Some of my peers do not have the phantom injuries to the level of which I experience them, and some of them have it much worse. I think I am somewhere in the middle. So, as we get older, we start to avoid doing anything that may cause us to get hurt. But you can't just stop doing everything. You have to walk. You have to sit. You have to eat. All three of those can be deadly activities but you still have to do them
So you take risks.
Well, two weeks ago I took a risk (everything before this line has been the introduction to the point of my story)! I went for a bike ride. I love riding bikes and quite often, regardless of the risk, I like to go out for hours long rides.
Anyway, I got home from work two Wednesdays ago and took my dog for a walk. We walked for about 45 minutes and yes, I survived. Then I ran into a woman and her family looking for their lost dog. It was dark and it was cold. I would hate it if my dog was lost, so, I jumped on my bike and went looking.
As it was so late in the day and I was tired I was basically looking fate in the face and saying "BRING IT!!!" Just to let you know, I didn't find the dog, but they found it the next day.
I rode around for about 45 minutes and gave up. I was beat. I headed home.
I got within a block from home when I got a call on my cell phone. It was my child and I did NOT want to miss that call!!! I answered it. Yes, I know that answering your phone while riding a bike is not wise in a whole "BRING IT FATE" type of way, but it's not hard to do as long as you aren't necessarily trying to stop your bike at the same time.
So, I turned it up a notch with fate and stopped my bike at the same time.
As if I were in some sort of comedy skit, I came to a complete stop, balanced for a second when I realized that with one hand on my bars and the other holding a phone to my ear, I could not get my foot off the pedal. Before I could start pedaling, I simply fell to my right side and hit the ground.
I'm sure some witness would have thought I was doing this for some sort of Python-esque comedic effect in seeing me come to a complete stop, balance and then, without any fighting, fall helplessly over, all for a good laugh.
Nope, it was not for a laugh. I landed on my right shoulder. My helmet hit the ground but it protected my head as it should. I skinned my right knee up pretty badly and I scraped my right elbow. I also managed to get my left hand down in time to brace myself. I had the wind knocked out of me and I could not feel my right arm for the first few moments after the accident.
I FELT LIKE A KID AGAIN!!!!! Seriously, it was GREAT to not hurt myself doing something boring! I was doing something fun and something damn near stupid at the same time and I got hurt, just the way nature had intended! WHOO HOOO!!!!
As it turned out, I managed to sprain my left wrist and THAT is why I have been unable to type out my blog for the past week and a half.
And there you have my actual point!
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