What is it about being a parent that suddenly makes you feel old. Not your spirit or your figure. I mean your body -- your bones, limbs, muscles, ligaments -- just feel achy old. I wake up every morning with a sore lower back (no sass from the peanut gallery). My shoulders kill. My neck is creaky. But of late, it's my right leg and hips (yes, just like my puppy). I feel like I have the body of an 80-year-old arthritic woman.
Tell me I'm not the only one. Please.
My kids are young, which requires me to squat on my knees often while chatting with them during playtime or when we need to see eye-to-eye. But when I stand back up, I can barely walk because the pain behind my right knee is simply awful.
While a little spa action last weekend helped me a bit, I visited my orthopedic surgeon on Friday to see if he could find the source of my little issue. After a hip x-ray turned up nothing, he concluded that my muscles and ligaments around my right hip are inflamed and in need of a rest.
His prescription for recovery was simple: Stop exercising. For three weeks.
The concept of sitting on my gluteous maximus would normally sound quite appealing to me. But not with a toddler, an almost six-year-old and a puppy in tow. I take Luna for multiple walks every day. Q. and I walk everywhere. And Five and I run around like silly fools in the backyard. My town is a walkin' kind of hood. In fact, walking is my main form of exercise these days. My heart started to ache as much as my leg.
Five happened to be with me at the doctor on Friday. Shortly after my appointment, he left with my parents to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa (what we affectionately call "The Weekend of Anything Goes"). On Saturday morning, I called Five as we were about to take Luna for a stroll. It was a gorgeous, crisp Fall day. How could I resist?
"But Mom," said Five in a serious, worried voice. "Dr. W said you're not supposed to walk. No exercise, remember?"
"I know honey," I reassured him. "It will be short, I promise. I'll be okay."
It was a short walk. Only by the time we got home, my leg and hip were telling me I should have listened to my wise son. Even today, I hurt.
So now I'll really be spending three weeks sitting on my ass. Doctor's orders.
