REFLECTIONS/GENERATIONS

My younger granddaughter turned nine years old this week.  Of course she's eager to be ten, since that's double-digits/pre-teen.  I think she's already nine going on nineteen, so I'm in no hurry for the calendar to catch up.  

Having a sister 5-1/2 years older than she is has influenced her precociousness, along with being  intellectually bright and curious in her own right, as well as being tall for her age.  All have led to people  thinking she is older.  She towers above most of her classmates.  But they should have seen her at her BD dinner, making the ever-popular "slime" from a kit, hugging her new Squishmallow stuffies, diving into her chocolate cake.  She's just a kid.

I look at her and wonder what future she will inhabit.  God knows the world is a mess and millions of U.S. citizens seem poised to once again put a narcissistic autocrat back in the White House later this year.  The rich continue to get richer while every major city and most small cities and even more rural areas have encampments of un-homed, drug-addicted, and mental ill people on the streets and in the parks.  

I still believe education is the answer.  I believe opening our minds to new information, our hearts to different cultures and peoples, our spirits to growth, compassion, and reflection (both about ourselves and others) can guide us to a better world.  

Just today, popping up in Facebook Memories, I read this little missive that I had posted on Facebook awhile back in response to someone else's post about the plight of Millennials:

"Nothing has broken my heart quite as much as realizing that my sage advice to my children was to "go to college; you'll get a great job".  Since neither of my sons was sure what they wanted to pursue, I thought a good liberal arts education, while not career specific, would serve them.  Just having that degree would open doors where they could "learn on the job".  This was the naive thinking of someone who was the first in her family to get a college degree at a time when that was all you needed to get a foot in the door of a professional life.  

Just as they graduated, the Great Recession hit; a recession caused in large part by the greed and avarice of bankers and politicians who are still getting richer and more powerful. Those good jobs were hard to come by; a living wage almost impossible to earn.  It was hard.  Both moved back home for a time, which would have been unheard of in my generation.  I never saw that coming.  I didn't prepare them for such a setback.  It took some time to find their way to stability.

Still, I hope the college education allowed them to gain a wider world perspective, allowed them to learn more about themselves, allowed them to grow in ways they wouldn't have had they not gone away to school, and offered an opportunity to find interests and passions, and make great memories.  But I know the automatic "good job" never happened effortlessly and that their financial struggles are vastly different from those of my generation and age.

I am so impressed with the fortitude and work ethic of my sons now, and their wives.  I am impressed with their positive attitudes and personal values.  I definitely don't see them acting as if they are 'entitled', as is often the judgement aimed at Millennials.  I see them trying hard, working hard, living with purpose, finding a balance between work and life.  

Boomers, because of sheer numbers, have driven the social and political narrative for years.  Now it's the Millennials who are the leaders in numbers and and who can drive the narrative.  They are raising children now who will come of age in an ever-changing world.  All we can do is the best we can do in each generation and hope those who come after us will creatively and passionately work towards a better world."

I just pray that the world my grandchildren inherit is one in which they can learn, grow, thrive, and love.  I hope they can be fully themselves and that their considerable gifts are welcomed and celebrated.  I hope they will find passion and purpose.  I hope they will flourish and contribute to a more beautiful world.

I hope? I have largely given up using the word "hope"in my life.  I see it as a wished for future that is non-existent and beyond our control.  Hoping hasn't served me.  But when it comes to my grandkids, words like "pray" and "hope"come flowing out onto this page and instead of editing them away, I leave them.  That says something about me, I suppose.  Desperate times. Desperate measures. Desperate love. 🙏🏽

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

HIPPITY-HOPE

Some of my friends are, let's just say it, totally sick of me talking about my bum hip.  Whatever.  I may refer to it now and again, but I'm sure I don't go on and on....do I?   Well, even if I do, the topic expressed out loud pales in comparison to the headspace in my own mind, for over a year, that it takes up!

I wrote about this before in the October 31, 2023 "Random Thoughts" post under the heading Gratitude.  Odd place to put it, but I was sincere about being grateful it's not life-threatening and that I have a good Physical Therapist.

UPDATE:  (You've been lying awake at night worrying, I'm sure...)  It's getting better!  I think!  Pretty sure!  Sometimes!  🙏🏽

Last week, for the first time in forever, I was able to go for three walks!  This used to be routine.  Our 4-mile loop was a "must do" 2-3 times/week, sometimes with a shorter 2-3 mile neighborhood walk in between some days.  I have not been able to do that for a long time.  Hell, I have been barely able to hobble around my house some days and going up and down our many stairways was very, very hurt-y.  But it's been a whole week of "better"/"doable" and most days with NO Ibuporfen/Tylenol on board, although just this morning Hub explained to me for the millionth time over the decades why some meds are not a BAD thing, but a helpful thing.  I am getting a glimmer of understanding, much to his relief.  

So why am I getting better? Well, I've been working my butt off on my PT exercises!  Wait!  Not working my butt off, but working more butt on!  All those connecting gluteal (butt) muscles that attach to the hip had grown so weak over the decades of crooked posture due to my scoliosis that they were hanging on for dear life trying to keep me upright, and have been in a spasm of effort for the past year -- at least that's when they called my attention to their plight.  There are several layers of gluteal (and other) muscles all around the hip area and they all have to be strong and working with ease to be useful and pain-free.  Also, I discovered one of my legs is one centimeter shorter than the other, also causing that ever so slightly tipping over posture that strains my connecting muscles.  I now wear a "lift" in one shoe.  It made a huge difference.  

So those walks...the pain still comes on a bit after about a mile and a half.  Which is perfect since that's where one of my favorite coffee houses sits on the route.  I peel off and grab a mocha while Hub continues on on.  He comes back to join me.  We have a nice little coffee date and make our way back to the car.  I get 3 miles in with that pleasant break half-way; he gets 4 miles and all is good!  On the neighborhood walk there are a number of hills, so I take my cane (Ugh, yes, cane!) per my P.T.'s orders until hills aren't so challenging.  But I still get a nice 2 mile walk with Hub before I head back home and he finishes his 3-4 miles alone.  (Alas, no coffee shop!)

I am so happy things are looking up.  I have been deeply discouraged, but suddenly it seems I've turned a bit of a corner.  Nothing is absolutely healed yet, but progress is noticable.  

I think I have finally found a good collection of treatments that are coalescing to make a difference:  Physical Therapy weekly, Yoga twice weekly, Hub's almost daily magical massage on the hurt-y part of the hip to loosen the knots of tightness,  20 minutes of using an ice pad after walking, 30 minutes of infrared heating pad while watching TV.   

And even on days when it was most painful I kept moving.  Hobbling around and dragging myself upstairs by the handrail were not great, but somewhat necessary to be mobile.  What was not necessary was to try to ignore the pain.  My body was telling me to take care and my mind said, "NO!"  My PT told me NOT to power through real pain.  She started me with gentle exercises, few in number, only a couple times a week.  She said to just try and do the exercises, but not push over a minimal pain threshold. She encouraged me to be up and walking for at least some period of time every hour.  She impressed upon me that SITTING is the WORST thing we do to our bodies.  (Have your heard?  Sitting -- being sedentary most of the day -- is the new smoking.  It's that harmful.)  

Aches and pains will slow us down, but shouldn't stop us cold.  If so, find out why.  Get help figuring out what to do about it.  The fact is, many of us have these types of challenges as our bodies begin to rebel against a lifetime of being ignored and taken for granted or just surprising us with ills and ailments we never could have predicted.  It's a challenge.  We all have had some experience with this at various times in our lives.  We are not bionic or indestructible at any age. Be loving and gentle with yourself.  I was NOT gentle at the beginning of this journey.  I pushed myself too far and thought I had to ignore the pain and power through.  I made it worse.

So now, I speak kindly to my body.  I send healing energy to my hip.  And I am highly motivated to stay active -- meaning able to walk over various terrain and incline/decline, sit, bend, squat, balance, reach, lift.  So, I am doing what I can to regain and build new strength.  I thought I was in great shape until this hip thing humbled me.  Now I know I can't take anything for granted and I have to be gentle with my body.  I also have to keep moving.  Plus, between months of limited exercise, holiday sweets, and all those rest stop mochas I managed to gain 10+ pounds over the past several months.  Grrrr.  Now I've added an intention and a plan to drop the extra weight -- weight which, wouldn't  you know it?, also adds to the strain on the muscles causing my pain.  Health and fitness is not about being a gym rat.  It's about just living as well as we can.

I follow this woman on FB and Instagram who does easy movement exercises in her kitchen -- Google her or search her on FB/Insta: "Easy Fitness Over Fifty".  She's fun, funny, and has a pretty house.  I tune into her a few times a day and bust a few moves for a few minutes.  It doesn't have to be a lot.  But it has to be something.  Here's to staying upright, mobile, strong, balanced, flexible...easy, right?  Not so much, but we are all in this together.  So if ya gotta talk about it, I'm here to listen.

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

Photo Credit:  www.pixabay.com