Camp Mar-Lin girls circa 1953 -- can you spot Naomi?
I can tell you a few things about aging. The best way to express my philosophy of aging is through the words of an unknown writer: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”
If you’re wondering which little girl is Naomi, I’m in the 2nd row, 2nd from the left. If you’ve spotted me, it should be obvious why I didn’t invest my early years in beauty pageants. How well I remember these girls and miss mightily the ones who didn’t make it this far.
Living every day as fully as possible, living large, is how we honor those who, through accident of birth or bad luck along the way, didn’t get the chance. I’ve lost so many friends and family, so many wonderful people with whom I had hoped to share much more of my life, that there’s a little bit of survivor guilt mixed in with the sheer joy of watching each day’s sunrise.
But it hasn’t all been easy. One of the toughest things about aging is that required maintenance increases, if not exponentially then certainly at a quickening pace. I remember when I could leap out of bed, breeze through a shower, and be dressed and out in fifteen minutes. Arthritis has long since ended my leaping, long hot showers have gotten longer because of the relief they bring, and I can’t even remember where I’m going in fifteen minutes, let alone be ready to go there.
I’ll be pretty much offline for a few weeks to do some of that maintenance, not scary, just time-consuming, painful, and expensive. I’m blessed indeed to have great health care coverage and just wish that everyone were as fortunate. If you’ve had a rotator cuff repair, you know what I’m facing. If you haven’t, I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy — well, that’s not true, I’d like to see all of the despots, serious criminals, wingnuts, and other undesirables have complete breakdowns of all their rotator cuffs. Perhaps the human race could make some real progress while they were in physical therapy, screaming in pain, rather than doing their day jobs.
If you need to reach me while I’m pretty much offline, or if there’s breaking news I shouldn’t miss because I’m off Twitter, send me an email at naomibloom@mindspring.com. Flowers are always appreciated, but there’s no need to get carried away. I’ve got a few backlogged posts that will show up while I’m “gone,” but who knows if they’ll get tweeted, so please do so if it’s convenient.
Break a leg Niomi
love, ethel
Best wishes Naomi and I hear that God is going to be directing the surgery, so no worries at all for you. I had a slight rotator cuff tear, but lucky for me that physical therapy has made me better and I have been able to avoid surgery. Take care and take it easy with recovery. BTW, I am 41, so I can relate to how the body slows down after 40.
Naomi:
Great sentiment about living your life. About 3 years ago, I had “Carpe Diem” tatooed on my arm. My mirror reminds me every day that you’re dead a long time! Seize the Day!
Get well!
May you speedily be able to put on your own bra and easily type with both hands and dance like a rock star. I sense you are in a great place with this second shoulder surgery. Bless those doctors, eh? And the quote is from Emma Brombeck (sp), I think. Happy holidays.
Naomi, I am only 30 and require this same surgery :(. Too many sports… so torn anterior and posterior labrum and rotator cuff repair required. Best of luck to you and here’s to wishing you a speedy recovery!
30? I remember 30…but not very clearly. My advice is to get your fix done ASAP because it will only get worse. I had the extreme rotator cuff makeover on my right shoulder mid-2008 with full immobilization for ten weeks — dreadful. Now I’ll be good as new, actually better because the right was fixed with some kind of surgical material that’s better than real. Will you be at HR Tech 2010?
Naomi, Surgery is in the cards for 2010. I will likely do two-three events this year, with HR Tech almost definitely being one that I attend. I look forward to meeting you in person. – Jason
Naomi, Will be thinking of you and sending waves of good thoughts. Talk with you very soon.
Wishing you a speedy recovery. I’m pretty sure the Twitter Elfs will pick up any posts they see show up on your blog and tweet them out to everyone. So don’t worry about a thing.
Thank you all for your well-wishes. I hate body repairs, but there’s no good alternative yet. I’m sure one of the EIs is working on this and can only hope that they’ll work faster now that they know how much revenue I alone could generate.
Wishing you the absolute best while you recover. We’ll all miss you and will be thinking of you!
Best wishes Naomi and I am sure you will be back in action in no time. When I saw the title of the post in my Google Reader I was sure that this would be a piece on the endless patching exercises that befall almost all ERP systems! But maybe you can write about that another time. I will definitely be on the lookout for your posts when you are away and will certainly help spread the word.
Take care of yourself Naomi and don’t you worry about a thing – we’ll be here when you get back. Positive healing thoughts coming your way.
So live hard and leave an ugly corpse, huh Naomi? Well, you’ve done the first but with all the weight you’ve lost lately, I’m afraid your’re losing out on the second. Best of luck with your surgery. I’m too cheap to send flowers, but my thoughts will be with you.