The orange cones of life

Good morning boys and girls. I had an epiphany this morning while pouring my coffee. If you're on the word challenged side of the road, yes, I am old, have had 3 sons, and that does indeed happen. If you're among the edjumacated, I'm going to share my thoughts with you. God help you all as I've not had my coffee yet.

Here's the skinny. We all have problems in our life. Some mental, some physical, some...well...you're just an asshole and there's no cure for you. No, not really...told you, no coffee yet. I am of the 'glass half full' school. It makes me happy, it keeps me going, it works for me. I find ways to take my problems and make them not so bad. I find away around them. I always thank God as whatever He gave me to carry, I know it could be worse. So, here's what happened this morning while pouring my coffee.

I've developed arthritis. Out of the blue, one day in July I believe it was, I woke up and my fingers looked like talons of a scary bird. Oh, it didn't stop there. My ankles hurt, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, my elbows hurt, my shoulder hurt. Every single joint in my whole body hurt. I'm not exaggerating for sympathy. If it bent in my body, it hurt. Had that ever happened before? No. Did it get worse over the next month? Yes. My hands are the worst I'm sure because I work with them daily. I grip a big knife and chop, chop, chop for hours. I use an immersion blender for about an hour a day. The lettuce chopper looks like a Victorian torture device and it requires a lot of strength to raise the dohicky up and slam it down. My digits are screaming for sure! They ache when I'm not even moving them. Always. I get up in the morning and I can't bend my fingers. Try tossing the blanket off yourself if you can't bend your fingers. Try opening a door knob if you can't grip. Don't even get me started on trying to get the toilet paper off the roll. Oh yes, as the knees and hips hurt, lowering yourself to the toilet first thing is even a challenge! OK, so how does that play into my sermon of the day? We just have to detour around the orange cones of life.

I got up 2 days ago and went to pour my coffee into my thermos and I couldn't lift the pot. My fingers couldn't grip the handle tight enough and my wrists didn't have the strength to lift it. WTF was I going to do? I get up a few hours before TBM. I weighed my options. I would find away around this problem, I just had to use the grey matter. I could make 1/2 pots of coffee from now on. One for me, one for TBM. Nah I didn't like that idea, and it wouldn't help me right then anyway. I got the bright idea to get a pot holder and use 2 hands to pour my coffee. Lift with the right, support with the left. If I stood on my tippy toes, it wasn't as hard on the shoulder to get the pot high enough for the thermos either. There ya go, problem, solution. I want my coffee in the morning. I want it bad. I found a way to have it.

I'm hoping when I get to Florida the pain will subside a bit. I won't be using my fingers as much, the heat will be healing. If not, I'll cross that path when I come to it. I'm not looking ahead for problems. I just try to deal with the ones I have today and not worry about tomorrow.

When we find problems in the way of our weight loss journey, we have to find a solution. We can't just give up and say we can't do it. If we want it bad enough, we'll find a way around the obstacle. Do you have something that always seems to block your path? If so, think hard today what you could do to detour it next time. Laugh if you want to cry. Hold on tight and find your support where you can.

Don't give up. Lift with the right, support with the left!

:-)