Thursday, March 4, 2010

Bad Night

I had a bad night last night. I have some arthritis in my hip, caused by over 30 years of walking the hard concrete floor of the factory. Most of the time, I don't even notice it, but every once in a while it kicks up. Last night was one of those nights. The cats even left, in disgust that I was tossing and turning so much.

As often happens, my brain choose that time to shift into overdrive. At first, my thoughts were pretty dark. I kept thinking about how I'm getting older, and how I really have never accomplished anything.

But, I gave myself a good kick in the butt (hard to do when you're laying down) and reminded myself of all of my blessings. I have a roof over my head, food to eat, critters to enjoy, and, most importantly, good friends who care about me, just to name a few of the more obvious. I volunteer, and I try very hard to do no harm.

So, there I was, pondering my future in the middle of the night. I came to the conclusion that I may be in the sunset of my life, but sunsets can be very beautiful, and we have the choice to make our own sunset so. With that, I finally drifted off to sleep, somewhere around 3 AM. Oh, another thing to be grateful for. Because I'm retired, I didn't have to get up at 5 AM to go to work.

As Roy Rogers would say "Happy Trails to You." And, beautiful sunsets, too. Now, I think that I'll go take a nap.

8 comments:

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

You accomplised RETIREMENT, and during the winter months, my phone rings just about every morning at 5:30AM to tell me road conditions and what the plans are for the day because I'm the media person at work.

Aren't you living in the home that's been in your family for generations? Oh I'd just love that.

I have bursitis in both shoulders and boy have they been acting up lately, can't hardly get my jacket on and off.

Take care to ya, I just took two Advil's.

Upupaepops said...

Oh Louise I have nights like that too. The brain in overdrive is the worse. Sometimes I cannot tell my brain to shut up. I have to stay away from the computer after 8pm. I am trying to take melatoinin before bed.

I like Nutramax labs Glucosamine / chondroitin . Yes this is Cosamine DS the same maker as the horse and dog rx

It makes a great deal of difference in my hands. There are days I can feel it in my hips but probably not like yours. I feel my hips be an issue after a stiff hike, so probably normal, overall

Pilates or yoga can be a great help. I heard a great story on NPR that yoga for seniors can have very big benifit. Never too late to try.

BlueRidge Boomer said...

Hang in there.....we all have "those" kind'a nights.......relax and enjoy being retired!!

IsobelleGoLightly said...

The barometer was doing something hinky yesterday. My lady told me her bones were groaning. Yoga is a great idea. I already practise that a bit.... Goga! hee hee I hope you had a nice nap in a patch of sun!

John Going Gently said...

try a large gin and tonic.....
thepain is still there but you cant be bothered about it
x

Louise said...

Other than making it whiskey and water, that's a very good idea, John.

Seriously, thanks for all of the other tips, too. I've tried the cosamine DS, but it didn't have any effect on me. Not surprising, as I tend to be very drug resistant. I think I will try the yoga, though, if I can find a class where they don't make me tie myself up into pretzel knots.

Inger said...

I love that you wrote about this. It is good to know one is not alone on those nights. A cup of warm milk sometimes helps me go back to sleep.

John Going Gently said...

if one gins fails
HAVE ANOTHER!!!