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So…I wrote earlier today about slowing down. I’m trying. But my doctor and Kay insist I not slow down too fast or I may come to a dead stop. Begrudgingly, I’ve started to take their advice. I joined the health club as a Silver Sneaker or something like that.
This morning Kay and I worked out before going to Costco to get the Prius’s tires rotated, a precautionary move similar to exercise – regular tire rotation will keep the tires from dying before their time.
The tire rotation appointment is for 1:00. It takes 45 minutes. We walk around Costco, get a few groceries, have a bite of lunch, pick up the car, load the groceries, start driving home, and remember we need gas.
It’s after 2:00 p.m. now, past time for my nap with Barclay, but I pull into the gas station, pull up to the pump, stop the car, do the credit card thing, insert the gas hose, and start pumping. Then it occurs to me to check out the windshield for cleaning.
“Are you okay, Sir? Are you okay?” asks the young man who’s come to my aid.
I’m face down feeling old and foolish. “Damn gas hose!” The hose was too high for leg muscles exhausted from working out. I had tripped over the gas hose.
Kay is oblivious to all this, sitting quietly in the passenger seat, her head down, traveling elsewhere in the universe, texting someone not lying on the ground next the car.
“What happened?” she asks as I get back in the car. “I fell. It must have been the exercise. I’ve NEVER tripped like that before. I told you. Exercise is bad for my health!”
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, Feb. 5, 2016
Views from the Edge 
Oh, Gordon, life is so difficult at our age. You could go to physical therapy for your balance, so you don’t fall down. That’s what I do. Old age is so much fun!! LOL! Just keep writing and giving us old people something to laugh about.
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Glad you enjoyed the piece. I just put up a follow-up.
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Bet you are looking forward to the day you can walk Barclay around the paths of Jonathan again.
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Yes, Karin, I am. Barclay is especially looking forward to it. Every morning he asks me what day it is on the calendar. He does, however, LOVE snow. He just doesn’t like being leashed. I sometimes take him to the Jonathan Elementary School to run, run, run, and he runs, runs, runs until I finally say, “Want to go for a ride in the car?”
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I’m glad you were able to achieve perpendicular, so to speak, and I certainly hope that you feel OK tomorrow, aside from the muscle aches that one must expect.
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CA, before falling, my right hip hurt from falling off the chair on the balcony in Tampa, AND from the morning exercise. After falling today, my LEFT hip, left shoulder, left forearm and hand all hurt. Fortunately, I didn’t hit my head, but it hurts nonetheless just thinking about what might have happened. 😩
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My doctor figures walking around Costco pushing a cart good exercise, and I do not even try to step over the gas hose, I go around the car.
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Karin, You’re a lot wiser than I am, and your doctor is wiser than mine! Push the cart. Forget the gym. BTW, Kay pushed the cart.
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I appreciate the kind of logic that leads us to where we want to be anyway. Good work….
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Yes. MY kind of logic.
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