The Ankle, and the Past
Because it's appropriate (thanks, Brian Witte): Louis CK - Incurable Shitty Ankle.That's not what I have--for now, at least.
Spending an hour and a half at the gym doing 2/3 rehab exercises sucks, to put it mildly. The best part about workouts is that I can zone out for long stretches, but there's no zoning out when you're doing rehab exercises. Plus, you're always conscious of the weak part of your body, so it's hard to relax.
I know the rehab is working, because my range of motion is getting much better, but the soreness is pretty high to make progress this quickly.
Now, on to a story.
I noticed something today while I was at the YMCA.
There's an employee there that Eli 15.2 and I call the "Form Policeman", because she's always dropping by and offering suggestions (some of which are right--some, a bit dubious).
I was sitting on a bench doing ankle alphabets (hell is full of ankle alphabets) near the end of the workout, and I was exhausted.
She sat down quietly beside me.
"I'm going to have you sit up straighter," she said.
I didn't even realize she was there until she spoke, and I looked up. She's a bit older than me, but her face is still bright and she seems kind of mischievous.
In this tiny moment, I realized that at one time, she was a lovely woman.
When I was young, it was easy for me to appreciate my future. Now, my future is appreciating the future of others. In exchange for that loss, though, I can now appreciate the past.
For most of my life, I would have looked and just seen an old woman. To look at her and see who she once was is a good thing, I think, and I'm glad I can do it now.
I hope that someday people will do that when they look at me.
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