Got my buddy Toby Keith singing about Drinks After Work, a load of laundry up and a bag waiting for me to jam pack clothes in it.
Been to see the surgeon, ran a million errands and spent time in between battling the blog because the damn thing chose not to work.
Stared into its pixelated eyes and threatened it with my best steely glare and words you shouldn’t find in a family blog and I think we might have reached a state of detente.
The funny thing about this stuff is crap never goes wrong when you have ample time to deal with with it.
Nah, it only happens when you are hours away from hopping on a plane for a quick business trip.
Man Versus Machine- Man Wins?
If experience has taught me anything it is to acknowledge the question mark at the end of that subhead above.
At the moment everything seems to be working as it should and I have faith that it should continue this way for the time being.
Or at least it should until the next WordPress/plugin update wreaks havoc upon my site.
I said Dave!
I ain’t as good as I once was,
My how the years have flown,
But there was a time,
Back in my prime,
When I could really hold my own,
But if you want a fight tonight,
Guess those boys don’t look all that tough,
I ain’t as good once was,
But I’m as good once, as I ever was.
I used to be hell on wheels,
Back when I was a younger man
Now my body says “Oh, You can’t do this boy”,
But my pride says “Oh yes you can”
As Good As I Once Was-Toby Keith
Stand Where You Are Or Move
My dog wasn’t impressed by the picture of a fellow canine jumping out of a plane. I offered a Scooby snack but he just yawned at me.
I rolled my eyes at him and told him we have to live a little while we still can move at a decent clip.
That wasn’t any more persuasive or impressive to him, especially since his mortal enemy the squirrel walked across the yard and taunted him.
I suggested he might get some street cred by jumping with me but the mutt still didn’t care.
****
Saw my surgeon today and received clearance to head out on the next great adventure which was good because if he had said no my head might have exploded.
He reiterated how the timing of my surgery was fortuitous and that it was good I had chosen to do it now and not waited.
I asked for clarification on how much I am allowed to lift and he looked me dead in the eye and said “10 pounds.”
“Doc, I am not built for grace or for dainty work. Can we fudge that a little bit? I am going to have a chunk of alone time where I am going to need to do more than just sit.”
“Josh, you can do all the cardio you want right now provided you aren’t running hills or doing any sort of elevation. Give yourself two months.”
Two Months- Long or Short Time
If my kids received this sort of instruction I’d look them in the eye and remind them not to be dumb.
I’d tell them to be smart and be careful.
Two months will go by very quickly.
Well, I keep telling myself it is going to be very quick but the guy in the mirror rolls his eyes at me.
I told him to try it again and see what happens.
Jerk laughed at me.
*****
Two months really isn’t that long and as long as I am allowed to do some sort of exercise I am confident I’ll be ok.
But it is going to require some attention to not doing the things I normally do. I rarely have to think twice about moving stuff around my house.
I recognize my irritation with this is kind of silly and that much of what I am concerned about may not be an issue at all, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be irritated.
Use Your Resources Wisely
My children have heard me tell them more than once to use their resources wisely.
They know if they come to me with a problem I will do my best to help them and that oftentimes I’ll start by asking them what resources they have to draw upon.
I want them to learn how to problem solve and to recognize that many of life’s challenges are easily handled if you learn how to take advantage of your resources.
Which I suppose is also my way of reminding myself to apply that to my own life and to recognize the next two months don’t have to be a pain.
How Man Won The Battle
I beat the machine this time around by using Google and YouTube to search for solutions and enlisting outside help when somethings exceeded my abilities.
Doesn’t mean there weren’t moments where I felt like the guy on the motorcycle because there were but that is part of what makes life interesting.
97.3% of our success in anything is predicated upon showing up and our willingness to keep going.
So I figure I’ll keep showing up and keep going and hope there aren’t too many rough landings in between.
Got to run now, time to finish packing my bag. Maybe I’ll catch some ZZZ on the flight.
