Elbow Sabbath



I have been nursing a hurt elbow for about three weeks now. It was injured through some repeated lifting motion with weights. Bad technique. I think the pain actually started when I used to throw empty seltzer bottles into the recycling bin in the kitchen when I was sitting on the couch in the living room. It was a backhand of sorts that snapped the right elbow at a unusual angle.

It started as a strain and became a chronic ache. I have taken a long break from lifting to give it time to heal. On the plus side, I have been able to resume my five mile run to the river and back now that the weather is out of single digits. Three weeks of resting the elbow still has not healed the hurt. It is improving by increments. I am dedicated to waiting it out.

I have a bad history of doubling down on injuries and not resting and rehabbing properly. My left knee is an enduring testimony to my impatience. I was actually playing full court basketball with a full leg cast on my left leg after my first knee surgery. Even the most cunning malpractice attorney promised a 100K fee would have declined to take my case to the court suing the surgeon. Really unwise.

My right pinky finger is at at a permanent right angle for some of the same reason, although I could probably have litigated that one because the emergency room Doctor put my hand in a fist before he put it in a cast, forever fusing my pinky in brokenness.  As Bono sings in the Song for Someone (most recent album, the freebie on iTunes) "I have some scars from where I have been." 

As I have aged, I have accumulated injuries that take longer and longer to heal. The tide of time has turned on me and the fountain of youth no longer runs. Instead, healing waters trickle slowly. There is grace in this because it reminds me that this tent of the flesh is slowly being folded, the pegs are gradually being pulled.

We live in our injuries to some extent. The mortal coil is but for a period. I await resurrection and walking through walls. Until then, if I walk into a wall, it's going to hurt real bad. I suppose Death could be seen as a wall. We are all going to hit it and stop.

On a very cool note, tomorrow at 9:00 I will be a guest on WITF's SmartTalk sharing with the audience (it is a live show) college preparation insights. With age. comes knowledge and I think my wounds have given me wisdom. One has to know what to do when and doing nothing can be a powerful act as long as it is thought through. The race is not always to the swift. It is to those who know how to rest. To assess the conditions and to recognize that walking away and laying it down can  be the best thing.

You can tell the pic on top ain't mine. Right pinky is straight.


My pinky looks like that suspect picture of the Loch Ness Monster. Uncanny! Anyone know a good attorney? 

   

   


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