Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I'm no Lance

Not even a Lancet.

I had yesterday off. I love the VA on Veteran's Day. Not just because I get the day off when I'm on the out-patient rotation. Mostly because the flags are up all around the front and the patients have hand colored pictures in their room from school kids in the area thanking them for serving. I supervised a lumbar puncture today of a vet and while the intern re-identified the landmarks I saw the picture right next to the urinal. A fourth grader. It was very good.

So to celebrate, Mom, Bryce and I went for a bike ride to the ocean. That involves a lot of hills from here. Well, a lot for me. I liked the flat bike rides in Davis. Half way up one of the hills with my thighs and my lungs burning, I was composing craigslist ads to sell my bike. Then there would be a downhill and I'd delete the typed sales pitch in my head. We finally made it to the ocean at Torrey Pines. It was hard to believe it was November given the beautiful sunny day and the people scampering about the beach.

On the ride, though, I was thinking, "I used to be tougher." I used to be less eager to give up. I didn't give up, but I thought about it. Maybe I used to be more stubborn. Biking can be sort of scary, though. Especially when Ali had cautioned me to not fall over because I'd get really bruised. And the cars rush right by you. And the shoes are locked into the pedals so that when mom almost falls into me I can barely clip out in time to catch myself and her. It's not often anymore that I'm scared like that--a self-preservation sort of fear.

I'm not really sure I like it. It's pushes and stretches, but it's not comfortable. Maybe that's the point.

But.

I still have unhealed scars on my legs from my bike wreck last year. At least this time I wore a helmet.

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