13 things i’m grateful for today 21/06/13
It’s been a many weeks since I last wrote a list of things I’m grateful for so this is long overdue.
A couple of days ago I picked up my new kayak and yesterday I took it out for its (and my) maiden voyage. It’s not easy getting the kayak and on off the roof of my car by myself. It’s 10 feet long (almost twice my height) and weighs 55 lbs (almost half my weight). I practiced doing it a couple of times in my driveway before I went down to the Almonte fairgrounds where there’s a boat launch . The basic technique to get it onto the roof is to lift one end of the kayak and lean it against the back of the car and then lift the other end and push/slide it up onto the roof. Getting it off essentially involves reversing the process.
When I got to the launch I was lucky to find someone to help me carry the kayak from my car to the water once I had taken if off the roof. I have a trolley with wheels to get the vessel from the car to the water, but it’s faster and easier to carry it. The problem is I can’t carry it on my own.
I enjoyed a nice paddle toward Appleton. When I got back, I asked a fellow who was sitting and fishing at the water’s edge if he would help me carry the kayak to my car. “No,” he said. “No, I can’t help you.” This surprised me. It’s the first time I can remember anyone ever declining to help me when I asked for assistance. Perhaps he was physically unable or something; he didn’t say.
Instead of using the trolley, which is a bit of a drag to strap on, I decided to back up the car so it was closer to kayak. This meant the kayak was below the rear of the car and considerably harder to get up onto the roof than it would have been on level ground. As I was pushing it up, my back went into a spasm. This frightened me. I had a herniated disk in 2018. It literally immobilized me for four months in the fall if that year. I couldn’t walk and I was taking all kinds of painkillers. Not pretty. This spasm wasn’t at that level, but I was afraid it might go in that direction at any moment. Then what would I do? I managed to get the kayak up onto the roof and strapped down. I need to get home, I thought to myself. I was terrified of becoming petrified.
In my haste and fear, I forgot that I had put my paddle down in the grass. I made it home where I iced my back, took some painkillers and then later had an epsom salt bath. I didn’t sleep well.
For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about the paddle. I got out of bed and went to check in the car. Sure enough, the paddle was not there. I immediately drove down to fairgrounds, parked, and walked down to the launch where I thought I had set the paddle down. No sign of it. I was disappointed. Things have not been going well lately, then buddy wouldn’t help me, then the back spasm, now the pain which will last for a bit for sure, and then someone took the paddle. I turned around to head back to the car, discouraged. As I did, I noticed my pink polka dot jacket and Wolfi’s Dubai bike shop water bottle sitting on a concrete block about twenty feet to my right. I hadn’t realized I’d forgotten them too. And there beside them was–the paddle. Yipppeee!
13 things I’m grateful for today:
I’m grateful to whomever found my stuff at the fairgrounds and set it on the blocks where it could be easily seen and not run over by someone parking their car. Thank you.- I’m grateful for anyone and everyone who may have seen my stuff and who didn’t take it. Thank you too.
- I’m grateful my back isn’t as sore as it could be and that it will get better eventually.
- I’m grateful I can still walk.
- I’m grateful that one day soon someone will take me for a motorcycle ride, and I’m grateful I continue to have faith that it will happen until it actually does even though it sometimes feels as if it NEVER will and that the universe is playing games with me <3
- I’m grateful for honey.
- I’m grateful the timeframe for getting second doses of COVID vaccines has been shortened and I’m hopeful I will be able to book my second dose in the near future.
- I’m grateful for the two rain barrels that were recently delivered and for the rain they have collected so far. I’m praying for more rain.
- I’m grateful for the call from my friend Nancy (who is a researcher at McGill University) inviting me to participate as a patient partner on a new dementia project she is leading. I’m also grateful for the several other dementia-related projects I’m involved with either as a co-researcher or patient partner.
- I’m grateful for poetry and for having discovered I have an aptitude for composing rhyming verse.
- I’m grateful the book I’m writing is progressing slowly but surely. I will persist and I get there.
- I’m grateful I still remember stuff, even though I also sometimes don’t.
- I’m grateful for all the amazing Facebook friends I have around the world <3
More posts on being grateful here.
#stayhealthy #staysafe
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