It ain't the Age, It's the Mileage!!!!

Last night was the first time I have ever had trouble sleeping. My legs were giving me fits, my knees and ankles (which are about shot at this stage of the game) were aching unmercilessly. I tossed and turned, throwing blankets and sheets willy, nilly, I even ran the dog out of bed and out to the couch. When first light came creeping in I tried to get up and realized my knees and ankles and big toes were extremely stiff, swollen and painful. More so than I have ever experienced, so much I panicked and slowly made my way to the living room. I felt so strange I immediately wanted to go to the emergency room. Now let me tell you, I am no hypochondriac and I hardly ever get sick, but when my physical body starts to give up the ghost, I freak! I know I am only 50 years old but the mileage on these old bones is horrendous. When I was young I was a tomboy. My 1st mother died when I was 8 and Dad proceeded to teach me all about baseball. I was the best baseball player in the neighborhood, and at school I was the first person picked (by the boys!!!) to be on a team. I suffered sprains, broken noses, skint knees, and I ate dust many times sliding, thus began the downfall of my skeletal support system. I rode my bicycle everywhere, remember, this was the 60's, you never stayed indoors, unless it was a torrential downpour, for any reason. I know this strained my knees even while boosting my cardio and muscle systems. In High School I was a swimmer, Volleyball player, the goalie on my Field hockey team and gym was my favorite subject after English. ( okay, so I'm a little strange ) and I even ran track, I was never as good at any of these sports as I was at Baseball, but I still gave everything I had. My knees and ankles were paying the price.Then when I first started college in Florida, one of my friends took me to a strip joint and dared me to dance. I was hooked, do something you love and have money thrown at you was my kind of thing, I quit school and became an exotic dancer. Now in the 70's and early 80's platform shoes of ungodly heights were the standard issue for us dancers. The more you could bend and turn in them the more money you made. I did this for 7 or 8 years and my knees were deteriorating without much fanfare. Oh yeah, I forgot about the stint in boot camp, in 1977, on crutches when I hyperextended my knee , more fodder for the fire! Then I was a cop and attended Police Academy, back to physical training and marching, wonderful therapy for knees already starting to creak when asending staircases. In the 80's it was Disco, in the 90's it was bowling and that's when I started to have to wear an assortment of ace bandage supports and learned to love the fragrance of Icy Hot!!! It was mid 90's the first time my knee "went out" on me. I was walking across the bowling alley floor and the next thing I knew I had a close up of the neon cosmic bowling carpet. No pain, No warning and no way to stand up. I was on a cane for weeks. Of course I didn't go to a Doctor, I had no insurance and I am tough. What the Hell, there wasn't any blood or guts involved so I knew I'd live! This continues to this day, sneaking up on me when I least expect it, sometimes I go 6 or 7 months without a twinge then I walk down the stairs wrong and I am in excruciating pain for weeks, and on a cane. Well, the moral of this story is......... you can take life easy and go out with your body still intact and beautiful, or you can take life by the horns and hang on with all your heart for the craziest ride of your life, you'll definitly be worse for the wear, everything falling apart or down, and you may not stick around as long, but By God, you will have lived everyday as your last and have some killer memories, and that's what my life is all about!!!!