On The Road Again!

The road to recovery from hip replacement that is! Unless, of course, Willie Nelson runs for president in which case I would totally put up a yard sign that said, "On the Road Again!"  No, I'm talking about my car and driving my car. My last drive was on Nov. 11th from home to the hospital.  I missed the ability to drive.  I have been able to cut back on the pain meds enough to drive safely.  So, last night, as I'm walking around the block getting my exercise in, I smell wood smoke coming from a neighbor's shed.  A light bulb goes on above my head.  The light bulb is incandescent and yellow.  I have my car.  I could go to the gym tomorrow!  That light bulb, that very thought of progress, keeps me warm and happy and in less pain than any oxyschmotsky ever could. I think I will just go to the gym to take a sauna.  My gym has a sauna where both men and women warm up and relax with their clothes on.   My thought of just going to the gym for a sauna is a lot like a ride on my motorcycle where I'm just going to Elk River to buy gas.  I never stop just at Elk River to buy gas.  I always go further.  And I did more than a sauna at the gym today. I drove safely to the gym.  Offspring #2 has the station stuck on a hip hop channel.  I tire of that before I can say "hip hop" and turn it to MPR where I listen to a doctor speak about resiliency.  She wrote a book about happiness for the Mayo Clinic.  She talks about adjusting your focus on issues that bring you stress.  If you feel stressed, dial back on the focus to a longer view. When she was a medical student she stressed about her score on her anatomy exam.  To this day, not a single patient has asked what score she got on her anatomy exam.  Before an anatomy exam dialing back the focus on the long view is a good step in resiliency.  This is just what I need to hear today.  I park at the gym. I got on the exercise bike and peddled for ten minutes.  I felt so good getting my heart rate up to the 130 mark.  Expand those lungs!  Make that heart beat faster.  It's like making love to my own cardiovascular system. I sweated.  Sweating felt great too.  On my walk from the bike to the sauna I meandered past the lateral pull down machine.  It was empty.  I heard the machine call my name.  I put down my cane and made myself comfortable.  Was it coincidence or karma that the seat was set at my favorite spot?  I took it easy.  Normally I would do 3 sets of 15 at 70 pounds.  I did 3 sets of 12 at 50 pounds. I stretched my arms high and pulled down feeling my muscle juices tricking down my back.  What is in these muscle juices that I feel tricking down over my ribs?  Fitness tea? Endorphins?  This wonderful feeling is why I return to the gym.  My back feels thirty years younger. I don't want to overdo things here.  I wipe my germs off the machine, pick up my cane, and move toward the sauna. I leave my cane outside and find  a dry spot of wood to rest my weary skeleton and warm up. Oh, I feel so good after going to the gym.  I'm back on the road.  The road is where I belong.