OLDER PERSON CRAWLING

No matter our age, we are all getting older.  So I don't put much stock in "old people".  Unless you are a newborn, everyone is older than someone.  And I absolutely reject the stereotypes of aging.   It's wrong, inaccurate, discriminatory, and keeps us all in judgement and fear.

That said, I absolutely do realize that there are different capabilities at different ages and stages.  I couldn't crawl before it was time.  And now I realize it is far past time to be crawling.  LOL

This past week we decided to tackle painting two small (11 x 13) bedrooms.  Painting always sounds easy.  Looks easy on the ads.  Isn't easy.  There is So. Much. Prep. Removing wall art, fixtures, taping off woodwork, patching and sanding nail holes, shoving and carrying large heavy pieces of furniture that end up part of the living room and hallway "decor" for the duration...  You know.  You've been there.  

We got the painting finished (looks great!) and decided, "Well, the rooms are empty.  Let's remove this old carpeting now rather than 'later' as planned".  So together, over the next two days, we got to work ripping up two rooms of wall to wall carpet, and pad, and CRAWLING ON THE FLOORS with crowbar and hammer pulling up the carpet tack strips nailed to the perimeter of all the walls ("we" meaning Hub), and CRAWLING ON THE FLOORS some more to remove about 500 staples that held the pads in place ("we" meaning me).  I believe the guy who manned the staple gun is no longer employed -- cost overruns on staples!  Then we lugged it all out to the pick-up truck for a dump run.  ("we" meaning Hub.)  

Once the pad was up we noticed splotches of dark red gooey stuff that had leached from the pad onto the hardwood floors beneath.  "We" (meaning me) CRAWLED OVER THE FLOORS AGAIN, with a putty knife trying to remove the goop.  Didn't work great and it left a stain making the floors look like they had a very aggressive case of measles.  I tried various stain removing products.  None worked. Hub tried to steam clean the stains to no avail.

So, we now have a guy coming out Monday to give us an estimate on refinishing the floors, as well as doing some other hardwood work in other areas that has been on hold for 'someday' for a long time.  One thing leads to another...and if we go forward there will be even more of the above to do soon.  Ugh!

What this project has led to for me is humility.  I've worked hard to stay in pretty good shape physically.  But the first night after working on the floors I was miserable.  My usual cocktail of Ibuprofen and Tylenol was no match for the aches, pains, and stiffness I experienced.  My hip that has been giving me fits for nearly a year was screaming at me, as I hobbled around the house.  My knee was aching with the occasional breath-taking shooting pain.  My hands were bandaged and sore.

I had tried to avoid this.  I had tried doing the job on hands and knees on my garden pad (ouch on the knees anyway), then sitting cross-legged bending forward (ouch on the hip and back), then sitting on my bottom with legs splayed spread-eagled before me, also bending forward (ouch again on the back).  There was just no good way to tackle this on-the-floor project without my body protesting.  I got a blister in the palm of my hand from prying staples with a flat-head screwdriver and pulling them from the wood with needle-nosed pliers.  Thankfully I thought to put in earplugs when Hub was pounding the crowbar with the hammer to get the tack strips up -- protecting as best I could from making my diagnosed "mild to moderate" hearing loss worse.

We reminisced about how many times we've done this exact same thing in this home over the last 40 years in every room that originally had carpet.  And in our previous home.  And in the one before that.  But I don't recall being so physically uncomfortable as a result.  So, ages and stages.  It's real.

Still, I am grateful for a body that could do the job at all.  And the next day it went easier.  I'm still babying my hip, but that's been bugging me for awhile and at this point I have to take some responsibility for ignoring my training program for addressing it.  Wake-up call.  Do nothing...get no results.

As we grow older our expectations for what can and cannot be done must change.  We must be able to adapt and adjust.  I get that.  I really do get that.  And I actually find it a relief.  Painting, yes, a hassle but not very physically demanding.  Doable.  Crawling on the floor removing carpet/pad/nails/staples.  Doable, but not pleasant.  I've got maybe one more floor left in me. Maybe two, tops, if I have to.  Then I think I'll mark that chore off the "to do" list and put it on the "never again" list.   I'm not sure when I'll be incapable of  some of the things I do now, but by then I'll still be capable of so many other things!  And I'm grateful for that too.  Onward!  (But hopefully not on hands and knees.)

At least, that's the view from here...©