Sunday, April 18, 2010

EXTRA HOUR

Without my usual 2 to 4 daily miles, I have (drum roll) an extra hour, give or take, every single day.

I know, I know. Extra-hour envy. Some of you are so busy that you would kill for that extra hour a day. In fact, I can remember other times in my life where a 25-hour day would have been welcome, especially back in the 1980s and 1990s when I was a working mom with a job, three kids, and only two hands. So if I could figure out a way to give that hour away to someone deserving—or even put that extra hour on Craig’s List and sell it—I would.

However, my time is my time, and there’s no way to hand it off like a relay baton to someone who needs it more than I do. It’s mine to use productively or waste as I choose.

So far in the past five days, I’ve spent that extra hour: eating, reading, lollygagging, moping, loitering, whining, diddling, hemming, hawing, and frittering. Oh, and I’ve also loafed and lounged a little.

Since the point of this self-imposed knee rest is to rest my knee, I have purposely not done things like clean the garage, plow the South 40, or rearrange the heavy furniture, all of which need to be done. I have also not done non-knee-straining activities like feeding the poor and visiting prisoners. To say that I have not used this extra time wisely would be humblingly accurate.

I last walked on Tuesday, April 13, so on Wednesday, April 21, come hell or high water, I am going to give it another try. It seems to me (with my vast personal knowledge of orthopaedic medicine) that my knee has improved somewhat. Three more days of self-imposed abstinence might help me turn the corner. Or at least it might allow me to walk around the corner.

Keep your fingers crossed that these days of frittering and squandering a perfectly good hour are almost over!

1 comment:

Dana @ Bungalow'56 said...

Good luck, hope the knee gets better soon.You could be like me and have a perfectly healthy knee, and still lounge and fritter. Now that is true squandering.
No excuses Dana