Saturday, January 28, 2006

write from your pain

What great advice, from my brother in law.
I am not sure he meant this pain, but here goes.
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Pain in my shoulder every time I move
Burning, aching as I try to reach for anything. Still ringing in my ears is the sound of metal on ice, ringing shovels chipping away at four inch thick ice that is weeks old and refrozen many times, compacted by delivery trucks into a slab as hard as concrete, and as big as a swimming pool.
The sun is blocked by the building to the south so there is no help from it. The work is cool but inside my shirt it is hot as I strike the ice repeatedly with the nose of my steel shovel and chisel off a chunk or two. It is hard. It's hard work. part of me loves it, part of me wants to rest, to let someone else do this, or imagine that soon it will just melt away.
What keeps me going is knowing that one person could fall on this ice and really hurt themselves, some one like my mom ( who is 86) could break a hip or worse and have a lot of pain and a long recuperation. The ice here is an enemy to the older generation, it intimidates them and causes them to 'go around' or not go at all in the winter time. I want to make a clear path for my elders, and to offer safety and show concern for what concerns them. One day I will be older, and I hope one young man ( out of a thousand?) will have been trained right by their parents, and will make a clear path for me to get to my favorite restaurant.
Today I am sore, but smiling. Writing through the pain!

11 comments:

won tong said...

okay booger-loaf...here's a bible ,I told carol I'd have one brought to the jail and i keep my word..also I will be preaching on the parable of the pumpkins and there will be a passage study in a few days...

won tong said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
BarbaraFromCalifornia said...

That is and is not funny, in some sort of way. I am from California! What do you expect~

Minerva said...

A beautiful post David...and I hope there will be someone to eke away the ice for you too...

Minerva

utenzi said...

Michele sent me, David.

Another possibility is to move to where there's no snow. Of course then you'd lose the amazing vistas that you sometimes present in photographs.

I hope the ice chipping chore and snow removal in general isn't too much of a bother, David.

Lisa said...

Hope the pain is better! I've been reading LOTS about you on the Blog Olympics circuit! lol!
Here from michele's this time!

Jennifer said...

congrats on winning 6 silvers across the board!!!! I'm jealous!

won tong said...

DAVID IT WAS FUN ONCE WE ALL GOT TO THE PARTY...CONGRATS ON YOUR WINNINGS AND THE FUN TIME WE HAD MAKING LAZY DAISYS RAG NEWS..AS FOR THE SERIOUSNESS OF YOUR PAIN I FEEL AWEFUL AND I'D HAVE MY HUBBIE COME HELP YOU IF I WERE THERE TO DO IT.. IS ANYONE AROUND TO HELP..? BEING A CANCER SURVIVER AND DISABLED AS WELL I KNOW AND HOPE YOU CAN FIND A WILLING NEIGHBOR TO HELP.. MY HUBBIES MOM FELL AND WAS IN A COMA AND DID REHAB AFTER THE BEST BRAIN SURGEON OUT OF UCLA WORKED ON HER.. SHE'S OKAY NOW BUT I WORRY ABOUT THE ELDERLY AS WELL AND MYSELF I HAVE TO WALK VERY CAREFULLY AS YOU KNOW WA. HAS LOTS OF RAIN AND SOMETIMES ON THE ISLAND ICE AND SNOW... SCAREY STUFF.. I THOUGHT LAZY DAISY DID A FUN JOB OF IT WITH US... SHE IS SUCH A WITTY WRITER...BARBRA AND CAROL ARE AWESOME...SEE YA AROUND...FEEL BETTER...GOD BLESS...

Unknown said...

David - Thanks for clearing the walk for all the seniors and not so seniors out there. It is such a charitable thing to do.

Thanks again for your participation in the Blog Olympics!

You are a hoot!

Anonymous said...

Hi there... very interesting site that you have here... got here via Michele's. Cheers!

Oren Schmidt said...

Ill clear the ice from your path when you are an ol' man! Someone raised me right!