Like a rock, nothin' ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock
And I stood arrow straight
Unencumbered by the weight
Of all these hustlers and their schemes
I stood proud, I stood tall
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams
Well, I still believe in my dreams, and I don't know how troubled I've ever been by hustlers...
But that arrow straight stuff, that's the stuff Bob Seger asks himself about that I'm feelin' him.
Twenty years now
Where'd they go?
Twenty years
I don't know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they've gone
Well, they've gone to throwing three kids around. Piggy back rides, wrestling matches, races across the playground.
Then there's just the age. My DNA isn't keeping up. Telomeres shrinking, mitochondria slacking off. Exercise would help but...
Like a rock. standin' arrow straight
Like a rock, chargin' from the gate
Like a rock, carryin' the weight
Like a rock
Maybe my body is crumbling into gravel and sand, but the weight I carry is getting heavy because those before me are handing it off. I can take it. I'm a rock. But the time for taking care of this shell we call our bodies is in short supply or so I tell myself.
I drive to work and it takes 30-45 minutes to get there. An enviable commute for many Americans, but my body does not lie. For the past few months I've climbed out of my car, I stand up and I am NOT "arrow straight". I am bent at about a 10 degree angle. Hunched over like an old man. My body pauses there, telling me I have achieved the standing position. My brain gets a type of mental whiplash as my stiff back halts it's progress while it's expecting to continue to its zenith.
I consciously lift my head higher, stretching the back muscles that had grown accustomed to their near right angle to my thighs forthe past half hour. My back acts as though surprised. Unaware that its range of motion was greater than it tried to achieve. Astonished, it goes along forthe ride my brain forces it to take. It's not unhappy. It doesn't object. It just doesn't help.
I achieve my full height and check myself. There. 5' 11". That's how things are supposed to be.
"Oh. Okay." replies my back. Again, accommodating enough, but not feeling the same angst I am that just a year ago, I stood up to my full height without a moment's hesitation.
My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I felt was right
My hands shake every so often. Maybe sometimes due to caffeine excess? My eyes seem bright enough thus far and my walk continues to have purpose though my steps are not nearly so quick and I notice their weight. Holding firmly to what you feel is right gets easier as you age but not every old man has good ideas. When old men stubbornly hang on to their ideas, they can sometime get in the way of the world.
It's a good reason for people to die and make way for the new ideas of the younger folk.
They'd never go voluntarily. God has the plan. The kids who are so messed up take over and improve things. We may not think they've improved, but didn't we fix a lot of what our parents screwed up? I know I did.
Now that I've fixed things. I keep 'em fixed. Don't even think of getting in my way.
I've got the plan.
I won't be moved.
Like a rock.
*DM
Next: Breakout.
THE CHART:
Recording device inoperative. Chart will return when I replace it.
Estimated Grade: B+
Workout Partner's Progress: Pourring it on. Estimated Grade: A+
RECENT SYMPTOMS : Gum pocket, tooth cavity. Weight gain? Hypertension?
ONGOING SYMPTOMS: Weak, clicking knees, Pain in right knee when kneeling and shifting knee to the right. Hyperhidrosis.
DIAGNOSES:
Foot trauma from minor accident, suspected neuroma or hairline fracture
to foot. Unknown injury to right knee, possible impact from small
stumble (c. 2006) onto landing of concrete stairs. Injured knee joints
from sprinting (c. 2007)
ONGOING TREATMENTS: Tri-Annual dental visits.
DRUG REGIMENS: Aspartame. (3 diet sodas daily) Caffeine (four cups of coffee daily. two colas.)PROGNOSIS: Gradual decay of knee function.
POTENTIAL TREATMENTS: Fish Oil supplements. Axillary vacuum curettage, laser eye surgery, gum flap tissue surgery / bone graft, filling.
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