Look...

The Dreaded Question

It is easy reconnecting with people from my past with the latest technology. Thanks to Facebook, it is not just the alumni association that can keep up with me after years of being a ghost.

I get a thrill from finding a long lost pal. I also get a thrill out of discovering what they have done with their lives. Unfortunately the dreaded question follows, "what have you been up to?" They want to know the same about me.

The path I chose is far from traditional, even when the lack of marriage and kids is off the table. I remember that one decision that would forever change the direction of my future. In 1993, I called in sick and never worked again in my chosen profession. I was stripped of my executive status and for a year or so worked temp jobs where office skills weren't so important. From account executive to advertising director to answering phones.

It was a pesky major depressive episode. They don't call them nervous breakdowns anymore. It was the reason I called in sick that fateful day. Next was the nine years it took to get the meds right, then the next six years trying to get my fight back. We are talking 15 years of focusing on myself. Most don't choose that path, I was plunked down right in the middle of it.

I couldn't help myself one day, on Facebook. I looked up an old friend. I was taken by her success. I just had to comment on how happy I was for her. Her reply to me was "what have you been up to?" Innocent enough and yet how do I answer a question like that on Facebook, the Xmas newsletter of everyday living?

My "why trikkers are older" Theory

On the TrikkeTalk site I get a lot of info about trikkers including a survey of the ages of Trikkers. Most of them are in their 40s, 50s, even a 75 year-old trikker (bless her)! It makes me wonder why this "tri-bike" of the 21st century has not caught on with all ages.

My first thought is that trikkers are extra intelligent. It takes years to become as wise as we are. This makes us open to new ideas, willing to try new things. We are the baby boomer generation and getting older has a new face.

We want to stay active, so we work hard and play harder. Now there are powerful pills to keep us moving, when arthritis might have sidelined a previous generation. We also consider "play" to be important, a 21st century idea.

We are concerned about our health like no other generation. Trying to recapture our youth, or just trying to feel our best, is big business. We are concerned about quality of life. And we are not resigned to spending our senior years in front of the TV.

I think cost also plays a role. Many 20-something future trikkers just don't have the money to spring for a $500 fun machine like we can. But hey, it's five times the fun of a traditional bike, that 20th century idea of recreation and transport.

Trikkers are older because we are the forward thinking adults of the 21st century and we have the drive to try something new. We value our health and want to keep moving until we die. We are showing everyone that we can't be written off so easily.

I Picture

I Picture
my seduction
in slow motion.
I want to prolong your kiss,
I don't want to miss your tousle with my bra.
We'll tumble into bed
arms knotted, lips tied, tongues entwined.
I meant to say "no"
until you unzipped my dress.
Then I threw my "no" out the window
like a brick.

Even though we tear down clothing
we aren't really naked.
Like carpenters who work together
yet build separately
we move people in between us
like walls.

Doug

Doug buys our drinks at the Rex
after an eight-year absence.
He still wears topsiders and
drinks Chivas on the rocks.
The only difference --
his wife drinks with him.

We sat in the parking lot after work,
windows fogged, just talking.
I was 18 pretending to be 21,
and he was entering law school.

Doug comes over to tell me
how beautiful I am at 26,
and that he can't use his law degree.
His wife buys our second round and
tells him it's time to go home.
She looks at me as if I would steal her purse.

Taking One for the Team

Today I have to go to my pain management doctor for a shot in my knee. The last one was very uncomfortable and there was pain. Enough to make me nervous thinking about it. If it helps the pain in my knee at all it will be worth it. But it might not help either. Remember, doctors practice medicine after all. All I can think about is that I need to take one for the team. My team, JT's and her Trikke's team.

I guess we can judge our adult-ness by facing situations like this one, especially needing to relax while very uncomfortable. "It's gonna hurt, so relax!", the doc says. HA! I'm a baby when it comes to this stuff. I squeal, hunch up, tense up and let the doc know how I feel about what he says is "uncomfortable." When they use that word, well, it's like when I take out the pet carrier for Jake. May as well stay under the bed, he isn't coming out.

So I must offer up my knee to the gods for sacrifice. It's not a virgin knee, but it will do. I can then add this to the list of knee work and go on to the next procedure if needed. Boy, what I won't do to trikke longer and harder.

Does Weight Loss While Sick Count?

I have been sick all week, I fell last Sunday with something I had been fighting the previous week. So I went to the Doctor yesterday and found out I have a sinus infection. Not my first, so I understand why I have felt so lousy. And yet when I got on the scale I had lost another 5 pounds!! Well, I know I've hardly eaten all week but some of it has got to count. I always have to say to the nurse, "up one more" to that 50 pound marker. Not anymore. I still have two more 50 pound chunks to go, but that will come with time.

I am amazed that no matter what I do I keep losing weight. I don't think I am eating my best, and another 2-3 pounds come off. Don't misunderstand. I have completely changed the way I eat, and I love eating more healthfully. I exercise and drink lots of water. I'm doing everything right, and it works!! I still overeat at night, so that effects how much I lose, but I'm not in a hurry. I don't want to have to lose these pounds twice.

So even though some of the five pounds will come back, I probably can forget a few of them. Isn't science wonderful? Eat the right things and you will lose weight. They said it would be like this.