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Date Posted: Thu, March 31 2022, 21:04:24
Author: Betsy-the-Intrigued
Subject: QOTD for Friday, 4/1/22 (Happy Birthday, Sailor girl!)

It takes me quite awhile to realize and accept that I can no longer perform physical feats that I excelled at in high school. Many (many many) years ago I was actually athletic. I played sports, sprinted faster than almost everyone on my field hockey team, played second base in our girls' softball team, and was the only one on the balance beam that could vault on, do a bunch of complicated stuff, and vault off. Being honest about the balance beam, I was the only one on the gymnastics squad who performed on it, but it makes me feel good to know I was the best....

A year or two after high school, my cheeky teens- all three girls-- were laughing and poking fun of me for my accomplishments. So of course I needed to proove to them that their mother could still do a thing or two, even at my advanced age of 43. I managed a decent cartwheel, pulled every muscle in my thighs but did a split, and then decided to do a back-bend. Oh, I COULD do a back bend (none of them could!) and when I tried to finish with a back walk-over, it became painfully obvious to me that, yes, I could do all that stuff, but I was stuck, bent over backwards like London Bridge. All my muscles started to spasm and I couldn't move in either way. Backwards, forwards, I couldn't even fall out onto the floor. My sweet babooes just laughed and laughed, and tried to help me fall over onto the floor. And they laughed harder when Mom fell over in the shape of a rainbow.

A month ago, I don't remember why, I said I thought I could still do a split. It didn't require me to go upside down backwards, so it should be safe. And I tried, slowly, to do a split. Apparently, I hadn't learned my lesson twenty-some years ago, and my brain had conveniently eraced the whole painful humiliation. Here's what I learned this time: 1. Hip replacements aren't terribly flexible. 2. It causes Great Concern when it feels like those replacements are coming unglued. 3. Knee replacement surgery doesn't like splits, either. 4. Arthritis is painful when the body is twisted up. 5. I have arthritis. 6. It might be time to hang up my gymnastics dreams. 7. Falling on my head is scarier at 70 than it is at 18. 8. Write this all down, put it in notes on my phone because dollars to donuts, I'll forget it in a month. 9. Leave a note on my pill separator to remind me where to look on my phone. 10. Put big sign on the ceiling over my bed to remind me to take my vitamins so I can find the note. 11. Prevogen doesn't seem to be working.

Playing T-ball with my grandson, when I tried to catch the ball (I played second base....remember) it flew through the mitt and hit me in the face.

I decided to start knitting more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following quote is from "Seven Stones to Stand or Fall,' by Diana Gabaldon. Copyright © 2013, by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.


He could feel 'it' there, somewhere in the smothered dark behind him. He knew he couldn't hear it now; it was silent, save on the days of solstice and equinox or when you actually walked into it... but he felt the sound of it in his bones, and it made his hands tremble on the wrappings.

The gleam of silver, of gold. He chose two gold snuffboxes, a filigreed necklace, and--- with some hesitation-- a small silver salver. Why did the void not affect metal? he wondered for the thousandth time. In fact, carrying gold or silver eased the passage--or at least he thought so. Melisande had told him it did. But jewels were always destroyed by the passage, though they gave the most control and protection.

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Replies:

[> For a change I’ll talk about the quote first. Yes, this whole thing is weird and I can’t keep it straight either. But Rose Hall = Geillis = another TT. I NEVER picked up on the gold & silver vs gems. Immediately thought of Claire (yes wedding ring) but did Bri and Roger have gold or silver on them with the gems? Is that why they made it alive, even more than once?! . . . . . . . .Wasn’t Melisande the “little kitten” Jamie fought for when he was in Paris with Ian Sr? . . . . . . . He’s got to be talking about the stones vibrations, so where is he? . . . . . Is Master Raymond directing all this all the time? -- Kathy in PA, Fri, April 01 2022, 5:31:18


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[> [> Annalise de Marillac... Just read that name in 🐝s. And yes I'm till tending the hive. Work has been in the way. Still got about 150 🐝s to go. -- JamesG, Sat, April 02 2022, 21:51:41


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[> [> [> 👋 Hey James, nice to see you. Bees took me a lot longer to read than any of the others. I don’t know if it’s because I’m 22 years older or if it’s because J & C and their adventures are too! LOL -- Kathy in PA, Sun, April 03 2022, 5:36:21


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[> I have to tell you my first thought was, (excuse the French) “Oh, shit Betsy - nooooo, don’t do it”. Followed by “you’re not giving up your gymnastic dreams, you’re keeping them alive IN MEMORY” 😉 please. You garden, you babysit, commune with deer, spin barefoot ( I love the picture and hope you still find time), love your family all up and take QOTD weeks. You rock!! But don’t waste your money on Prevagen because your lifestyle will keep you young. Google the Doonesbury strip on it. We crones rule ❤️ -- Kathy in PA, Fri, April 01 2022, 5:38:48


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[> Ooooo Betsy, splits and joint replacements "dinna gang thegither." Still, I understand the need to prove to oneself or others that, "Yeah, I can still do that." Once a year or so, I'll try a cartwheel, which I can still manage, but it's not so pretty as it was 45 years ago. I'll take a turn on the trampoline at our family outing, but boy do my calves BURN. I think Kathy in PA is right about keeping things some dreams and accomplishments alive in our memories, no balance beams required! -- DianaH, Fri, April 01 2022, 8:32:32


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[> I have to do a reread of the secondary stories! Betsy, I have a theory of aging I call the moist theory. When we are infants and young children, we're very moist/wet. Moisture oozes out of us, we're flexible, learn and remember, good eyesight and hearing. As we age, we start to dry out. In middle age we start slathering on lotion, but can still do the odd cartwheel. Our eyesight starts to go, along with our balance. The older we get, the drier we get, until our skin becomes flaky, our eyesight is bad, our joints are stiff....but in our minds we are still that moist youngster who could do everything easily. I'm also 70 and beginning to be "flaky".... -- Janet, Fri, April 01 2022, 10:49:37


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[> [> I LOVE this, Janet! -- DianaH, Fri, April 01 2022, 14:06:35


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[> [> [> Me too! 67 in 2 months and still going strong, but I never could do a cartwheel or balance beam . -- Kathy in PA, Fri, April 01 2022, 15:22:52


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[> This part of the story, even though it is about other characters than the Big Books, is probably the most interesting of any other part of the series, and the most confusing. The Rose Hall-Geilis-time travel piece sends chills up my spine. Actually, I didn't even put all that together until my third re-read. Is Raymond controlling it all? I'm not sure, but I don't think so. He's a whole lot more than we see in The Books, but I don't think he's pulling all the strings. I'll have to look up the name of the woman Jamie fought for. I think it was Annelaise, or something similar. I'm not quite sure what the Comte is up to, either. Why is he insistant on having a baby? What is Madeleine's fate, once he has the baby? Does she carry the baby to full term? What was his reason for kidnapping Joan? I have more questions than answers about this story-part. -- Betsy BFS, Fri, April 01 2022, 20:28:46


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