A baby boomer’s life
Cast of characters, in lead roles:
Me, Lolly (also DBA Laura Cartwright Hardy), a grandmother, a mother, a wife and a daughter. Four grandchildren (Jude, Annabelle, Sylvia and little Luke), two kids (Ben and Liz), two children-in-law (Elizabeth and Brent), one step-daughter (Marie-Noelle, who is living in Switzerland), two lovely (they don’t know they’re adopted) four-legged German Shepherd daughters, Tess and Zuzu, and a husband, John, whom I enjoy spending time with.
Supporting characters, family: Cathy and Paul, my sister and bro-in-law; my twice-widowed Mother, my “I can’t believe he’s actually gone” stepfather of almost 30 years, Bill (“Grandpa” to my children and “Papa Bills” to Jude), and my dearly beloved, long-departed Daddy (“GrandBob” to my kids); great-nephew Nathan; sister-in-law Kitty and her husband, precious Norm; and last, and least in size, my little mother-in-law, Doris. Oh, and my granddogs, Wrigley (for the field, because hope springs eternal), also known as Wrigs, and Little Miss Fancypants, who goes by Fancy. Or Fance.
Supporting characters, almost-family (alphabetically): Anita, my dear friend of 41 years; Julia, my newest, instant-connection/separated at birth friend and partner in VernaJewel; Pam, the sunshine-of-my-life friend of 47 years of thick and thin; and Rhonda, fellow Virgo dreamweaver who came into my life, oh, must be pushing 27 years ago.
Love you all. Indulge me.
Boomer fitness, or fit still happens, just not as intensely
So, once upon a time I wrote a newspaper column called “Fit Happens.” This is where I’ll pick up that thread, only geared more toward broken-down/been-repaired baby boomer exercisers. We still work out, we just do it more carefully.
Injuries list (or, Don’t be stupid like me!):
Small break in foot from running days with Trudy; never had it set — didn’t realize it was broken (Heard the snap but thought it was a tendon. We were young and invincible and kept going.)
Sciatica from hell that flares up from time to time
Both rotator cuffs repaired, but slightly re-torn
One torn hamstring, healed
Plantar fasciitis, rarely returns
Torn rib cartilage that still sings the blues on occasion
The real game-changers, exercisewise, have been sciatica and the rotator cuffs, though the hamstring is still a bit weak three years later. Funky foot pretty much curtails most running and prevents cowboy boots from being a fashion option.
*Running update: Frustration over the nightmare experience with Bill’s hospitalization pushed me to wee bits of running on the treadmill, in an attempt to blow off steam. So far, 10 minutes of a 12-minute-mile pace have left me relatively intact. That’s a far cry from the 8-minute-miles of yore, but still ….
Hubster’s injury list:
Blown disc (don’t lift large motors!) requiring back surgery, which changes everything to a degree
Torn meniscus requiring knee surgery and ending running days
Shoulder tendonitis and frozen shoulder, ending tennis-playing days
And of course there’s the arthritis of the ex-jocks for both of us. But we push on. Details on how and why later.
Leave a Reply
Trackback this post | Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed
