I need a magic carpet.\u00a0 A small one, tasteful and well-made\u2014maybe an authentic Tabriz from northwest Persia.\u00a0 Something I can roll up and put under my arm like a yoga mat once I\u2019ve arrived at my destination.\u00a0 Better yet, it should disappear with a snap of my fingers, and reappear with another snap when I\u2019m ready to go.<\/p>\n
Scooters are wobbly, skateboards terrifying.\u00a0 And no, I don\u2019t find your suggestion of a broom the slightest bit amusing.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had my artificial hip for fifteen years now, and I can usually get around fine\u2014sometimes with a genuine bounce in my step.\u00a0 But when it hurts, just getting in and out of the car can be painful, let alone negotiating grocery aisles and lugging bags up my front stairs.<\/p>\n
I have no idea why walking and swimming, widely touted as being joint-gentle, both set me off.\u00a0 But too much of them\u2014meaning a very easy amount for a healthy person my age\u2014and I start to feel as if I\u2019ve got a pebble lodged inside my hip.\u00a0 Jogging, aerobics\u2014are you kidding?\u00a0 My pet rock might take up residency in there.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as much fun as you\u2019d think to have to ration physical activity.\u00a0 Say it\u2019s a beautiful fall afternoon, perfect for taking the dog the long way through the park.\u00a0 But I was planning to swim tomorrow morning; can I afford to do both?<\/p>\n
Other common questions:\u00a0 Do I feel bad enough today to display my disabled placard?\u00a0 Or would that be wrong, since I successfully braved Target an hour ago?\u00a0 Do I feel bad enough today to take extra medicine that makes me thirsty and is probably ruining my stomach lining?<\/p>\n
When I first recovered from the surgery and for a few years thereafter, I was upset that I wasn\u2019t able to be more active.\u00a0 The nice thing about having gotten older is that I\u2019ve become more accepting of my limitations and more grateful for what I have\u2014very enjoyable work that\u2019s not physically demanding, good health despite my sedentary lifestyle, no cane anymore, and on most days, no limp.\u00a0 If I can\u2019t play tennis, so be it (yeah, I couldn\u2019t play it before either, ha ha).<\/p>\n
In 1980, I went to see Dr. Murray, a broad-shouldered Kojak look-alike who had helped pioneer hip replacement and drove a white Jaguar with the personalized license plate GR8HIPS<\/em>.\u00a0 At the end of my appointment, he told me I was going to need the surgery within a decade or so.\u00a0 \u201cIn the meantime,\u201d he bellowed, \u201cbe as smart as a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI beg your pardon?\u201d<\/p>\n He looked up at me over thick black glasses.\u00a0 \u201cA dog doesn\u2019t keep going if it hurts.\u00a0 He lies down and rests.\u201d<\/p>\n So it is that when I\u2019m tempted to overdo\u2014which is often\u2014I tell myself to aspire to my pet\u2019s I.Q.\u00a0 And I fantasize about an elegant, if not widely available, mode of transport.<\/p>\n My other car is a Bakhtiari.<\/p>\n Published in The Piedmont Post<\/em>, May 12, 2010<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I need a magic carpet.\u00a0 A small one, tasteful and well-made\u2014maybe an authentic Tabriz from northwest Persia.\u00a0 Something I can roll up and put under my arm like a yoga mat once I\u2019ve arrived at my destination.\u00a0 Better yet, it should disappear with a snap of my fingers, and reappear with another snap when I\u2019m…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[116,117,118,119,120],"yoast_head":"\n