Sneezing, such exquisite pain, so I eat cake standing up

Today was a good day, at a friend’s birthday, when my back began to hurt, I ate cake standing up. All I care about at this point is that I didn’t hurt sitting down in a chair, but I had to stand up by dessert time.  Sneezing brings such exquisite sorrow. We won’t mention coughing. Or trying to sit on the pot.

I went to Lucky’s to get some food. It was a bit of a stretch, the heat was unbearable. I probably should not have vacuumed the rug yesterday. What was I thinking? 

I had planned to go see Billy Collins today, I even had tickets for this amazing triple feature all star conjunction with Isabel Allende, and Dave Barry in the town of Sonoma. But since I could barely get out of bed, I couldn’t even imagine trying to drive there.

I was already wavering, and on the fence about going because of the Delta Variant, even though it was outside, on the Sonoma Plaza. But when I woke up with my lower back and hip still hurting from having done too much the day before, most likely, I knew I couldn’t handle the hour drive to Sonoma, then to sit on the grass for two hours, and then the hour drive back. 

Also it was over 100° and incredibly smoky. It was a hard decision to make. Or an idea to let go of. The smoke is positively hazardous. Shallow breathing is the ticket.

Envoy: Well, it took almost a full month to get to the other side of this stupid lower back injury. My back still gets tired when I drive, I definitely hurt after a half-hour of sitting. A dull ache that won’t go away, and aspirin does little to ameliorate the pain. I need rest for a few minutes in between chores, and be careful when I do housework as it still twinges when I mop or sweep. 

Hardest retrain of all is to not leap out of my chair like a startled rabbit after I sit down to rest my back. Caught myself doing just that yesterday. Boing! As Andy Giddings said, "You need to eliminate Jump from your vocabulary." Not an easy thing. I am the original energizer bunny, sans batteries.

Stoned off my ass for the duration (translation: I strained my back)