A Lazy Sunday on the Couch

For us, Sundays are usually laid back. We try hard to keep it that way. I'm the early riser, so I'm up first, enjoying some coffee, watching the sun rise and sometimes making breakfast for everyone. On other times everyone is on their own. After that we head to church followed by some lunch which is followed by a hike or a bike ride or canoeing or some sort of excursion. After that I will go exploring in the woods or shoot some arrows or whatever. I'm not much of a couch potato and I never really got into tv sports and so for the most part, I stay active on those lazy Sunday afternoons. I'm not opposed to a good mid-day nap, and I will take one any chance I get. But to just sit all day, well I'm not there yet. One day I will, but for now, keeping at it is what I hope keeps me feeling young.

But I'm learning that even the fun things need pause.

I've been going steady lately, especially with the spring weather in the air. Working, looking for sheds every chance that I get and just being on my feet too much. My knee has been hurting and that really bothers me because almost everything I do requires getting around on my feet, and I'm not ready to slow down yet.

I tore the meniscus in my knee a while back. Blake was pretty little, so I'm going to guess it was fourteen years ago. I was doing something stupid, trying to lift a corner of the chicken coop and drag it sideways. It wasn't meant to be moved by human strength and something in my knee popped. The surgery and recovery went great, but I remember the surgeon saying that it will probably become arthritic as I get older.  Well he was right and the last couple of years it's been bothering me some. It usually starts when the snow gets deep which is always followed by shed hunting, making maple syrup or turkey hunting. All three of those things require lots of sidehill, mountain goat type, climbing and for whatever reason, are really hard on the knee.

Well, on Sunday Jenelle had a great soup cooking in the crock-pot so that when we got home from church we could just eat and do whatever. After devouring some soup the boys headed off to play basketball, and Aiyana and her boyfriend went for a hike. I asked Jenelle if she wanted to go for a hike and she thought maybe she should stay home since she was just getting over a cold and the air outside was windy and brisk. 

The first thought in my mind came straight from the heart and went something like this . . . . “what a great opportunity to put in some hours shed hunting.” Just like everything in life, our bodies have their inner conflicts as well. The second thought came straight from the twinge in my knee and shouted, “give me a break!”

It was a really tough decision for me. The weather was perfect and I really wanted to get out there. Jenelle suggested that we do pilates instead. It sounded good to me. It might sound funny to some of you, but I do pilates almost every week. Pilates is exercise that focuses on your core muscles and helps you to be more flexible. It doesn't kill your knees like running and aerobics do. I'm not into wearing stretchy pants or anything like that and I'm sure that I look a little out of place in my jeans, lying all knotted up on the floor, but since my back surgery a long time ago, it's the one thing that’s been really good for my back and the rest of my body as well. Unfortunately I can't say the same for my knee as of yet. But the stretches don't seem to bother it either.

So that's what we did. After doing pilates, I stretched out in the recliner with some ice on my knee and took a long nap. I read a bit and in the evening we went and hung out at my Mom's.

Monday morning my knee was feeling better. But it didn't last long. This morning it's even better. I have a busy week ahead. I hope that I can find the perfect balance between work, play, and rest, choosing what's important over just doing what I want.

It seems like everyone struggles with finding the right amount of time for at least one of those three. At fifty-five I'm still learning. I hate it that I seem to learn a lot of life's lessons the hard way.

I will admit “The School of Hard Knocks” is a great place to learn. But I'm dropping out. Spending a little more time on the couch each week might just be a good thing.