Happy Birthday to Me!

I turn 66 on Sunday, September 28 - tomorrow. I am not bothered by any age number, and this year I feel especially energized because we’re celebrating my birthday on the north shore. We spent the morning hiking at Temperance River State Park and then at Oberg Mountain Trail. We have hiked at both of them many times before, and they are favorite spots. It was especially fun to see the beautiful colors at the Oberg scenic overlooks. They were spectacular!!

As you might imagine, you need to climb up a hill to get to a mountain trail’s scenic overlook. Oberg was the second hike of the morning, and there were a few climbs at Temperance as well. I have always said that going up is MUCH easier than coming down. My knees don't mind going up much at all, but coming down is a different story. On the way down from Oberg, my knees winced (if knees can wince) with every step. It didn’t help that the route has some rocks and tree roots along the way, and I would sometimes trip or twist my foot or leg in a weird way as I stepped (or tripped) on them. By the time we got back to the car, I was certain I would be experiencing knee pain for the remainder of the day, and I hunted for an anti-inflammatory to take. My bag was too full and I didn’t find anything, but I didn’t feel any pain as I sat in the car. When we got back to our room, I was surprised to find out that I didn’t have any extra pain to speak of. We ate lunch, read a little, and then decided to head down the hill to do some shopping. Since I wasn’t hurting, I suggested that we walk. It was the same walk we made the night before, a couple of blocks downhill and then on to downtown. Only, it was on the way downhill that I found all that pain I had been expecting earlier. It was insane. By the time we finished those two blocks, I knew it had been a mistake not to drive downtown. The pain in my knees was not compatible with walking. I was looking for a place to sit for a minute to see if that helped. It was better while I sat but flared again while I walked. Ouch and ouch! I sent R.J. back for the car, and I told him I'd meet him downtown (sometime). I found my naproxen sodium in my purse and took it. I sat. I walked a block and sat again. I kept my pace slow. I walked and sat and made it the rest of the way downtown. As long as I walked slowly, the pain became manageable, and eventually the meds kicked in and helped a bit. We shopped (slowly) but didn’t buy anything much and then drove back to our room.

While driving around looking for a parking spot, R.J. had to pull over because he had a leg cramp in his thigh. (Yes, we're quite a pair.) He sometimes gets those after a lot of walking. He walked it off and was OK while we shopped, but then he had another one that was pretty intense once we were back in our room. He would use a heating pad for relief if we were back home, but we forgot to bring it along. He took a Tums for the calcium and drank some water while I tried to create a makeshift heating pad. I warmed a damp towel up in the microwave. I honestly have done this before successfully – but this time the warming went too long an you guessed it, I burned a hole in the towel. Not super helpful!! Since heat was not an option, we tried one of our ice packs from the refrigerator. He gradually felt some relief. Now I just need to figure out how to explain the burnt towel to the hotel staff….

We hope to hike again tomorrow, if we can get out of bed! Those scenic overlooks are waiting for us, but maybe I need to purchase a hiking stick as a birthday present from me, to me. All this to say that getting older is not terrible, but it can be painful at times. Oh, and don’t trust me for a makeshift heating pad - but do trust me if you need to laugh. Thanks for coming along on this journey of life with me!