My Feet and My Phone
I've got some fight left in me
I’ve been trying to get back on the horse.
For those of you who follow this newsletter, you know how important walking is to me. In warmer months I am out for an hour and a half or so every day my schedule and the weather allow it. Last winter I even put on sweats and a hoodie and walked in the cold (my limit was nothing below 40 degrees). I haven’t done that yet this year.
Last fall, my right heel began to hurt when I first woke up. By the time I made coffee the pain was mostly gone. But, whenever I tried to walk, the pain would start back up. I went to a doctor, got an X-ray, and was quickly diagnosed with heel spurs. I got a prescription for physical therapy. Most of the hours I spent walking were now replaced by PT, either at the therapy place or at home.
Fine. It was still exercise. But it took me out of the daily habit of walking for a couple of months.
Baseball playoffs came and went. The election came and went. The Mets fared better than the country. I didn’t venture out to walk in the cold once.
In mid-December, while my wife was out of town, my left knee started to bark. I favored it a bit, even took up leaning on my Dad’s old cane. Within three days I couldn’t even put weight on it.
My wife was gone. I mostly stayed in bed. My daughter came over to help out when she could, helping me take out and bring in the garbage, getting mail, yadayadayada. I got to a doctor by myself, and they got some X-rays. The doctor never really figured out what was wrong, but she didn’t think it required further imaging. My knee got better in the following weeks, though it still held me back from walking.
Between the heel spurs and the wonky knee, I quit walking for nearly three months.
For Christmas, my wife got me a treadmill. It’s downstairs in what used to be (and still mostly is) a storage room. I set up the treadmill in front of a table, and put a TV on the table. I can now watch “Brooklyn 99” (my current go-to show) as I walk. I work out harder on the treadmill than I do walking outside, so in that sense it’s a positive change.
But physical fitness isn’t the only reason, or even the main reason, to walk. I walk to get out of the house. I walk to gather story ideas for the following day. I walk to people-watch, pet-watch, insect-watch, cloud-watch, cool rock-watch, weird garden ornament-watch; you get the idea. To have a look at the world. Not to watch TV, which is what I am currently doing as I walk on the treadmill.
I need to get back out there. It’s snowing right now, so that won’t happen today, except for a bit when I shovel the driveway.
But I have some fight left in me. I fought to get my heel spurs to quit complaining, I fought to get my knee working again. I’ll fight to get back to walking outside.
This morning, as snow fell outside out window, I called the White House, my Congressmen, my state representatives, and the Colorado AG. I make seven phone calls every weekday morning. I started making these calls about a week ago. I don’t know if they do any good, but I don’t know how else to fight back, so I make the calls.
I have some fight left in me. I post the numbers I’m calling on social media. It reminds me to make the calls, and is an easy way to remember names and numbers and script day after day. I suppose there’s some virtue-signaling in it as well, but that doesn’t bother me. Calling your congressmen daily is a virtue I’m willing to advertise. I feel the shadow of my Dad near me when I make these calls. He would have done the same.
So, other than writing (which has been going well of late), my two daily battles involve my feet and my phone. I will resume walking in order to get out into the world again. I make my calls in order to (hopefully) make an impact on that same world.
I became politically aware in the age of Nixon. All I did to fight back his election was drag my sister into a polling booth (and snuck in there myself) to vote against him. I’m looking at the Des Moines Register newspaper right now with his face on it and NIXON RESIGNS below the masthead. It took a massive fight to get him to leave office. I remember. I won’t forget any time soon.
We’re living in an age of Nixonian overreach. So I will fight again.
My numbers:
President T. - (202) 456-1111. (Tues-Thurs only)
Senator Michael Bennet - (202) 224-5852
Representative Jeff Crank - (202) 225-4422 (these guys always answer and are always really polite!)
Senator John Hickenlooper - (202) 224-5941
Senator Tony Exum: tony.exum.senate@coleg.gov
Representative Marc Snyder: marc.snyder.house@coleg.gov (replies to emails!)
Colorado AG Phil Weiser - 720-508-6000
Peace.
I can sympathize, and I am really, really enjoying my new knee--and all the reasons for walking and using it. I realized I hadn't commented on the last post--I read it, sat with it, wanted to think before I commented, and then the day got away from me. But it is SO powerful exactly because it is not overdone or too varnished--the plain truth of it carries the weight. Stunning. I want you to get your knee in order so we can figure out how you can talk to my Creative Writing class about writing. :0) (And so that you can continue to walk through and enjoy the world). Keep fighting that good fight.
Carry on, my friend!