Don't Blink

The Bag Lady is a country music fan. (Gasp!) Who'd'a'thunk? She likes all kinds of music, but prefers to listen to country music. The direction that "popular" music has taken in recent years does not interest her. She isn't crazy about the atonal droning of some of it, nor does she care for screeching guitars, or thumpa-thumpa bass. She finds most rap music confusing at best, irritating at it's worst. She must be getting old, because even some of the country music nowadays is annoying. (ohmigosh, did the Bag Lady's mother sneak in here to write that?)

Whoops, got a little distracted there. What the Bag Lady started to talk about was a recent Kenny Chesney song she has heard on the radio several times called "Don't Blink". For those of you who don't listen to country music and don't know who Kenny Chesney is, what the hell is wrong with you? you really should give that song a listen. It's about life going by so fast, you don't want to blink or you'll miss it. It got the Bag Lady thinking a lot about how true it is - time goes by faster and faster, the older you get.

Without even realizing it, you can spend years of your life thinking you will always be able to do the things you do now. Right up until the moment your body betrays you! We take so much for granted, like being able to bounce out of bed in the morning and go about our daily routine. The Bag Lady was always in fairly good shape, albeit slightly overweight most of her adult life (she likes to think she was compensating for those years as a child that she was underweight...but somehow has gone far beyond that and is now perhaps over-compensating just a little!) Until the day she couldn't. Bounce out of bed, that is.

It started innocently enough. She worked as a clerk in a little country store, so was on her feet quite a bit. Her right foot started hurting, but she ignored it, thinking it would go away as it always had in the past. Before too long, it was hurting all the time. It started feeling like she was walking on a golf ball.

She started limping, trying to relieve the pain. Then her left foot started hurting. By the time she finally sought medical treatment, she had heel spurs in both feet that eventually required 3 years of orthotics, physical therapy and finally, shock wave treatments.

Of course, she had to keep working through all of this. In constant pain in spite of the orthotics, she suffered through her days and nights. There were times the pain actually made her cry. She changed jobs - in fact, took on a second job, which also required her to be on her feet constantly. She quickly found she couldn't manage both jobs, but the second job paid more, so she quit the first.

Her physical fitness deteriorated. She continued to do her chores around the ranch, and worked hard at her job, but she could no longer bounce out of bed. In fact, she had to take her time getting up, stretching her feet before she stepped on them so she wouldn't make them worse.

Her feet gradually started to feel better.

Then her hip started hurting. Back to the doctor she went. Deteriorating disk disease (in her back, causing the pain to radiate to her hips and down her legs.)

Don't blink. And don't take your good health for granted.