17 October 2019: Yesterday and Today
Yesterday I got up feeling energetic, ready to whip my weight in wild cats...two- or three-day-old wild cats, maybe. After breakfast I made sure to do my 'get-ups,' where I get down on my mat, lie on my back, spread my arms out at shoulder height, then get back up again. This engages every part of my body.
My couch figures largely in this exercise, both on the way down and the way up, so if I ever do fall, I fall into my soft, cushy couch. Yesterday I felt so full of vim, vigor and vitality that I did four reps, the most I have done since I resumed doing this exercise at the end of September. Then I decided that this would be a good day to call a Lyft and go downtown. I had two pairs of shoes to return to a shop on Walnut Street at 17th, another package to mail at the Broad and Sansom Street post office (four good-sized blocks away), then I thought I might retrace my steps a block to The Walking Company to shop for shoes. The sky was over-cast, but what the hell? I have a good day; I try not to waste it.
Everything went off well, even though by the time the ride share car picked me up, it wasn't overcast, it was raining. I didn't have an umbrella with me because, using my right hand for my cane, I needed my left hand to carry my packages. Growing a third arm, while an attractive idea, is not practical. Think of all the two-armed clothing I own that would be obsolete.
The rain was coming down pretty steadily, so I was thoroughly damp by the time I mailed my second package at the post office. I was seriously tempted to call a car from right there, but I was only one long block away from the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel and The Walking Company and I need the shoes for an event at the end of next week. Rationally, what was the likelihood that I'd get downtown to go shopping again by next Wednesday? Highly unlikely, I decided. The line in the post office had been unusually short, I'd hadn't dried off at all during my short wait, so going out in the rain again wasn't a big barrier. And I was successful in buying a pair of shoes for wedding and a new pair of sneakers:
I was happy to have gotten my shoes for $10.00 less than the two pairs I returned, and I was even happier when I got a cab home right outside of the Bellevue. I was tired and, of course, damp. On the other hand, unlike my last experience in NYC with busy, crowded streets and various kinds of paving, I felt confident and strong walking around center city. I didn't miss the lump of fear in my chest. That's progress.
Today I got up tired. I didn't think I slept that poorly, but I couldn't let myself sleep myself out. My son, John, who is also my personal trainer, was here shortly before 10:00 a.m.; I met him at Park Towne Place's gym. I shuddered internally when he said we were going to work on legs, as my legs were still tired from yesterday's four get-ups plus almost 3,000 steps. I felt that I hadn't progressed at all when we repeated the walking exercises I did two weeks ago; I probably regressed. I'll really work on those exercises this week. I don't need to go to a gym to do them; I can stand at my kitchen counter and do everything we did at the gym.
My right shoulder was quite painful today, so we did spend a considerable amount of time loosening it up. The shoulder is chronically sore, so those are exercises I can also do at home easily. It ain't easy getting old!
Enough with the complaining. I have a good life, and one that I enjoy. There are bumps in the road, but nothing I can't cope with. FanSee
My couch figures largely in this exercise, both on the way down and the way up, so if I ever do fall, I fall into my soft, cushy couch. Yesterday I felt so full of vim, vigor and vitality that I did four reps, the most I have done since I resumed doing this exercise at the end of September. Then I decided that this would be a good day to call a Lyft and go downtown. I had two pairs of shoes to return to a shop on Walnut Street at 17th, another package to mail at the Broad and Sansom Street post office (four good-sized blocks away), then I thought I might retrace my steps a block to The Walking Company to shop for shoes. The sky was over-cast, but what the hell? I have a good day; I try not to waste it.
Everything went off well, even though by the time the ride share car picked me up, it wasn't overcast, it was raining. I didn't have an umbrella with me because, using my right hand for my cane, I needed my left hand to carry my packages. Growing a third arm, while an attractive idea, is not practical. Think of all the two-armed clothing I own that would be obsolete.
The rain was coming down pretty steadily, so I was thoroughly damp by the time I mailed my second package at the post office. I was seriously tempted to call a car from right there, but I was only one long block away from the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel and The Walking Company and I need the shoes for an event at the end of next week. Rationally, what was the likelihood that I'd get downtown to go shopping again by next Wednesday? Highly unlikely, I decided. The line in the post office had been unusually short, I'd hadn't dried off at all during my short wait, so going out in the rain again wasn't a big barrier. And I was successful in buying a pair of shoes for wedding and a new pair of sneakers:
I was happy to have gotten my shoes for $10.00 less than the two pairs I returned, and I was even happier when I got a cab home right outside of the Bellevue. I was tired and, of course, damp. On the other hand, unlike my last experience in NYC with busy, crowded streets and various kinds of paving, I felt confident and strong walking around center city. I didn't miss the lump of fear in my chest. That's progress.
Today I got up tired. I didn't think I slept that poorly, but I couldn't let myself sleep myself out. My son, John, who is also my personal trainer, was here shortly before 10:00 a.m.; I met him at Park Towne Place's gym. I shuddered internally when he said we were going to work on legs, as my legs were still tired from yesterday's four get-ups plus almost 3,000 steps. I felt that I hadn't progressed at all when we repeated the walking exercises I did two weeks ago; I probably regressed. I'll really work on those exercises this week. I don't need to go to a gym to do them; I can stand at my kitchen counter and do everything we did at the gym.
My right shoulder was quite painful today, so we did spend a considerable amount of time loosening it up. The shoulder is chronically sore, so those are exercises I can also do at home easily. It ain't easy getting old!
Enough with the complaining. I have a good life, and one that I enjoy. There are bumps in the road, but nothing I can't cope with. FanSee