Oh shit.

I know, it's been ages since I said anything here. There are many many reasons, and I won't bore you with them now. They may or may not come out later. But do let me say that I owe much of this sudden urge to write again to my neighbor, who blogs HERE. Go back and read a few of her posts.

This morning I went to my chiropractor, as I do every two weeks. You may have witnessed me having back pain, truth is that I have had back issues since I was a very healthy and lithe, athletic teenager. It's just something I've had to deal with for over 35 years, give or take. Mostly it doesn't take much to "throw out" my back, like bending ever so slightly to straighten a table cloth. I never know when it's going to happen, I try to have good posture when sitting and standing, and do most of my lifting by the book.

So to maintain my back, I visit the chiropractor. He keeps me in line, as it were. The pain wanders sometimes, it sits in my neck and causes migraines. Next thing you know, it's in my lower back again and there's nothing left to do but to go flat on the sofa, ice pack in the small of my back.

And so I carry on.

This morning, just as I arrived, I got there at the same time as an old lady with a cane. I can call her an "old lady" because that's what she called herself in my presence. She was the kind of person who starts talking to you on sight, when you hold the door for her. We commented on the bright sunshine we were blessed with today, and how we each heard birds singing this morning, despite the well-below freezing temperatures. (The weather has been such that everyone is talking about it, we are feeling that cabin fever collectively, we are ready to get out and spend time outdoors without having to don so many layers, but at the same time we are aware that we have to be patient still. So we comment on small signs of hope, birds, sunshine.)

We walked into the office, each of us signing in and being greeted by the friendly receptionist. Each of us was going to be seen by different doctors in different rooms, and there was that moment of hesitation whether it's going to be worth it to sit down while we wait, or not. My old lady friend had a cane and a bad knee. Would it be worth the effort? She sat down. I sat next to her.

Not 30 seconds later, she got called up; an exam room had suddenly been vacated; she turned her head, and exclaimed: "Oh, shit."

And at that moment, I loved her even more. Some situations just call for an expletive, and if you're old and creaky and have a bum knee and a pain in your back, and sitting down and getting up is a pain in the you-know-what, then you are entitled to say "oh, shit". She didn't apologize, but went on her merry way, commenting slightly tongue in cheek that she is the life of the place and isn't everyone so happy to see her?

I was. And I sure hope to see her again some day....whether in person, or in myself.