During this past Labor Day
weekend, I hurt my back again.
Or really, I hurt my side again, and yes, it has to do with the sciatica that I had last year.
My son’s bowling league is starting up again on September 18, so I figured that as we did last year, he needs some “spring training,” and that I would take him to the local bowling alley to get in shape for the long season, which stretched last year into June.
And like last year, I figured I would take in a couple of games myself.
Well, this year, that ended up being a big mistake on my part.
Not only can’t I bowl anymore, but I also can’t seemingly keep myself healthy in trying to do so.
I think it was the second game, and if I remember correctly, I got my feet a little tangled up and almost fell.
But while I didn’t fall, I felt a sudden pain in my left side, the same pain that I felt more than a year ago when I had to go to physical therapy because the pain was so bad.
I continued to bowl, even bowled another game, but I was in a lot of pain, and it was all on my left side.
Admittedly, the pain and discomfort were not as bad as I had a year ago, but it was bad enough to alarm me and worry me a bit.
The pain has subsided a bit, but not totally, it is still there, and I have gone back to the exercises I did when I was hurt last year to try to alleviate what ails me.
It seems to be getting better, and hopefully I won’t have to suffer like I did a year ago.
But it also alerted me to a fact that I have to face: I am not 26 years old like my son is, and at 64, it appears that my bowling days, and my days as a non-athlete trying to be athletic, are over and done with.
My body just won’t let me do these things anymore, and I have to face up to it.
I have sciatica, I have a pinched nerve in my neck, and I am out of shape, all elements of a recipe for disaster if I try to do anything athletic.
And whatever athleticism you need for bowling, I don’t have any of it anymore, and I really hurt myself, and I guess it could have been even worse.
I was a pretty good bowler at one time, even rolling a 239 as my high game when I was in my 20s, or around the age that my son is now.
He enjoys the sport, and I guess I can enjoy it with him, but as a spectator.
I already told him that we will probably go bowling this weekend, but I will be on the sidelines.
Let me tell you, it is disheartening to feel this way, it really is.
It all came to light when I told my 90-year-old mother about what happened.
Out of my mouth came the words, “I am 64 now,” and it was like I had a minor epiphany.
I can do a lot at age 64—I am, thank God, relatively healthy—so I can still do things that maybe others at this age can’t do, but while others at this age can be athletic, I simply can’t do it anymore.
The good thing is that this time around, it appears that this might have been a warning from by body itself that I can’t do this anymore, because every day, the pain and discomfort kind of lessens.
I am back to doing my exercises, and I have to say that when I was doing them yesterday, I did feel a bit of pulling in my side, which meant that the exercises were working.
As I sit here typing this out, I do feel a little discomfort, but compared to the previous episode, this is nothing … although it is something that I have to take care of.
I guess that everyone goes through this to one extreme or another.
It takes some experience or something that happens to us to remind us that we aren’t that young, eager kid anymore.
We simply can’t revisit the time when we thought the world was our oyster and nothing could harm us.
As we grow older and wiser, we know that none of this is true, and we do have episodes that remind us that we aren’t kids anymore, even though we are young of mind and young of spirit.
The thing that gets me is that while at the bowling alley, I saw others bowling, and some of those bowling were probably at least 10 years older than I am, if not even more than that.
They seemed to have no problems throwing that ball down the alley, unlike what happened to me.
It almost made me a bit jealous, but I guess there are things I can do that they can’t at their respective ages, so I just have to go with what I can do rather than what I no longer can do.
Heck, all I have to do is look at the ball itself. With its holes placed the way they are, if you look right at the ball, it almost looks like an emoji, the one that represents “Oh my God,” or “Wow” or something of that level of expression.
Yes, it is something of a wakeup call, and those aches and pains that those of a certain age get really are reminders of whet we have done in our lives and the experience that we have in getting to the point that we are at today.
That is a nice way to explain it, but it still pains me that I am still in pain, doing something that I have enjoyed doing since I was a kid.
But at least I can see my kid roll the ball down the lanes now, and take heed that what he enjoys doing he perhaps inherited from me, his old man.
I guess that is going to have to do for now, because it will be a long time—if ever again—that I pick up a bowling ball.
I am going to leave that exercise to those who can still do it, or are young enough to do it, and I will do things that I can do, rather than things that I think I can still do.
I am not too happy about that pronouncement, but it is something that I am going to have to live by for the rest of my life.
We all get older, and it took a near trip and a pain in my side to tell me that yes, I am not different from everybody else, and that yes, I am getting older too.
Now, how about getting into the batting cage and seeing if I can still hit the ball out of the park?
Nope … even if I could hit a grand slam right now, I am sure it would give me a grand pain that will be a reminder that I simply cannot do this stuff anymore.
Let me go do my exercises and try to rid myself of the pain I have rather than the pain I might create for myself by doing something I can no longer do anymore.
As Dr. Smith from the TV show “Lost in Space” used to say …
“The pain … the pain!”
Right now, I honestly don’t know what is bigger: the pain in my side or the pain m my heart.
Or really, I hurt my side again, and yes, it has to do with the sciatica that I had last year.
My son’s bowling league is starting up again on September 18, so I figured that as we did last year, he needs some “spring training,” and that I would take him to the local bowling alley to get in shape for the long season, which stretched last year into June.
And like last year, I figured I would take in a couple of games myself.
Well, this year, that ended up being a big mistake on my part.
Not only can’t I bowl anymore, but I also can’t seemingly keep myself healthy in trying to do so.
I think it was the second game, and if I remember correctly, I got my feet a little tangled up and almost fell.
But while I didn’t fall, I felt a sudden pain in my left side, the same pain that I felt more than a year ago when I had to go to physical therapy because the pain was so bad.
I continued to bowl, even bowled another game, but I was in a lot of pain, and it was all on my left side.
Admittedly, the pain and discomfort were not as bad as I had a year ago, but it was bad enough to alarm me and worry me a bit.
The pain has subsided a bit, but not totally, it is still there, and I have gone back to the exercises I did when I was hurt last year to try to alleviate what ails me.
It seems to be getting better, and hopefully I won’t have to suffer like I did a year ago.
But it also alerted me to a fact that I have to face: I am not 26 years old like my son is, and at 64, it appears that my bowling days, and my days as a non-athlete trying to be athletic, are over and done with.
My body just won’t let me do these things anymore, and I have to face up to it.
I have sciatica, I have a pinched nerve in my neck, and I am out of shape, all elements of a recipe for disaster if I try to do anything athletic.
And whatever athleticism you need for bowling, I don’t have any of it anymore, and I really hurt myself, and I guess it could have been even worse.
I was a pretty good bowler at one time, even rolling a 239 as my high game when I was in my 20s, or around the age that my son is now.
He enjoys the sport, and I guess I can enjoy it with him, but as a spectator.
I already told him that we will probably go bowling this weekend, but I will be on the sidelines.
Let me tell you, it is disheartening to feel this way, it really is.
It all came to light when I told my 90-year-old mother about what happened.
Out of my mouth came the words, “I am 64 now,” and it was like I had a minor epiphany.
I can do a lot at age 64—I am, thank God, relatively healthy—so I can still do things that maybe others at this age can’t do, but while others at this age can be athletic, I simply can’t do it anymore.
The good thing is that this time around, it appears that this might have been a warning from by body itself that I can’t do this anymore, because every day, the pain and discomfort kind of lessens.
I am back to doing my exercises, and I have to say that when I was doing them yesterday, I did feel a bit of pulling in my side, which meant that the exercises were working.
As I sit here typing this out, I do feel a little discomfort, but compared to the previous episode, this is nothing … although it is something that I have to take care of.
I guess that everyone goes through this to one extreme or another.
It takes some experience or something that happens to us to remind us that we aren’t that young, eager kid anymore.
We simply can’t revisit the time when we thought the world was our oyster and nothing could harm us.
As we grow older and wiser, we know that none of this is true, and we do have episodes that remind us that we aren’t kids anymore, even though we are young of mind and young of spirit.
The thing that gets me is that while at the bowling alley, I saw others bowling, and some of those bowling were probably at least 10 years older than I am, if not even more than that.
They seemed to have no problems throwing that ball down the alley, unlike what happened to me.
It almost made me a bit jealous, but I guess there are things I can do that they can’t at their respective ages, so I just have to go with what I can do rather than what I no longer can do.
Heck, all I have to do is look at the ball itself. With its holes placed the way they are, if you look right at the ball, it almost looks like an emoji, the one that represents “Oh my God,” or “Wow” or something of that level of expression.
Yes, it is something of a wakeup call, and those aches and pains that those of a certain age get really are reminders of whet we have done in our lives and the experience that we have in getting to the point that we are at today.
That is a nice way to explain it, but it still pains me that I am still in pain, doing something that I have enjoyed doing since I was a kid.
But at least I can see my kid roll the ball down the lanes now, and take heed that what he enjoys doing he perhaps inherited from me, his old man.
I guess that is going to have to do for now, because it will be a long time—if ever again—that I pick up a bowling ball.
I am going to leave that exercise to those who can still do it, or are young enough to do it, and I will do things that I can do, rather than things that I think I can still do.
I am not too happy about that pronouncement, but it is something that I am going to have to live by for the rest of my life.
We all get older, and it took a near trip and a pain in my side to tell me that yes, I am not different from everybody else, and that yes, I am getting older too.
Now, how about getting into the batting cage and seeing if I can still hit the ball out of the park?
Nope … even if I could hit a grand slam right now, I am sure it would give me a grand pain that will be a reminder that I simply cannot do this stuff anymore.
Let me go do my exercises and try to rid myself of the pain I have rather than the pain I might create for myself by doing something I can no longer do anymore.
As Dr. Smith from the TV show “Lost in Space” used to say …
“The pain … the pain!”
Right now, I honestly don’t know what is bigger: the pain in my side or the pain m my heart.
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