Pop Goes the Muscle

Somewhere between picking up oldies, moving Christmas decorations from the basement and moving furniture to accommodate the Christmas tree (which I have been forbidden to do) I heard something go "Pop!" This was accompanied by excruciating pain.

This was several weeks ago. I am much, much better. But, for a while, I moaned like an oldie.

It made me think. Do we always think we can do more than we really should? The oldies do it. Before the hospitalization, she always thought she was capable of driving. That's probably why she kept sneaking out in the middle of the night. She was trying to avoid me just like I get annoyed when someone says, "You shouldn't be doing that."

My friend, Big S, attended a holiday party that involved some impromptu stamina and flexibility competitions. (There might have been some eggnog involved.) After her dazzling show of flexibility, she couldn't work out for a week. My friend (M) regularly goes to her mother's, gets on her hands and knees and scrubs things. She's in pain for a week. My friend (C) overdoes things on a regular basis (like lifting her mother into and out of the wheelchair) and then her back goes into spasms. I could list a dozen more examples but that's enough.

I've promised the husband, my parents, my doctor and houseboy that I will no longer attempt to move furniture by myself. But it makes me a little sad.