First the good news. The degenerative disc (see “Not How I Pictured It”) seems to respond to walking on the treadmill and stretching every morning. It has now become a staple of my lifestyle. Look, I am not crazy about it, but if it means I can put on my socks and tie my shoes in the morning, then so be it. Now….the rest of the story….
I had the ol’ MP3 player blasting some tunes while I was stretching and a song by the group “Switchfoot” came thumping through the headset. As I was lying face down on the carpet, backside in the air and feeling pretty foolish, I hear the lyrics “This is your life, are you who you want to be?”. As if that wasn’t enough, it continued “This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be when the world was younger and you had everything to lose”.
Why do I think somewhere the Lord was laughing at that picture. Hey, I was laughing too. Yep, face down on the carpet stretching is EXACTLY how I dreamed it would be! I wouldn’t want it any other way than to have to walk every morning, then stretch for 15 minutes to have some relief throughout the day. It’s prefect. While I did get a laugh out of that moment, I was reminded earlier this morning that it is nothing compared to what some people have to do each day. I should count it a blessing to even be able to walk on the treadmill. Some are not as fortunate. So when I think about it in that light, this IS my life and it IS who I want to be.
AARON CONRAD 