Oh the Pain of being me!!!!

In June of last year I was having a great time playing volley ball (first time I had played in 5 or so years!!) with a group of shall we say, "younger than me" people!! It was so invigorating to be out there hitting that ball again. It brought back such fond memories of playing in high school....never mind that high school was 20 years ago!!! Well, only 19 years ago last year!!! Anyhoo, I was having fun. Period. That is until I heard an odd popping sound and had the mother of all Charlie Horses!!!!!! 

WOW!!!

 Who knew that a Charlie Horse could be so painful. Right? Tried to walk it off. Didn't work. That was a long night....for reasons other than the pain!! Another long story for another day..... This long story, short--I had torn my right calf muscle. Had to do 6 weeks of physical therapy. And I got to wear an extremely attractive (please tell me you are getting the sarcasm of that) grey boot....during a SOUTH Alabama summer!!!!!!

Fast forward to today.....

We live on 6.5 acres of nearly neglected (for the 4 or so years it was vacant before we got it) property. There are lots of holes and uneven areas in our yard and we have slopes of somewhat extreme size.

 

It may be hard to understand the degree of slope-ness in the pic, but it seems extreme to me sometimes, especially when I have been working in the garden and have gone up and down it (what feels like) 100 times!!!  So, it goes down from our porch there and slopes all the way down to the creek 75 or so yards away....the slope is more gradual (thank goodness) as you get closer to the creek, but right out of our house it is pretty steep. Porch to dirt (in pic) is a 6' drop in 10 or so yards. I have actually visualized myself loosing my balance and stumbling head over heels down this slope!!! But it sure is a wonderful view when you are sitting on that porch!!!! =)

I have been gardening pretty heavily these past few days....gorgeous weather and all....so my legs were already getting quite a work out and today they protested! Much!! I have once again heard the "pop" and have a ginormous Charlie Horse of what can only mean that I have torn my right calf muscle....again. I was climbing the incline (about a 4 foot steep slope) on "Cross Creek" to check out something this evening when I heard it. Pop! And Pain!!!! Pretty far away from the house. To far to go back.....BUT we do have 2-way radios and today I am thankful I had one with me!!! I also have a very helpful 12 year old!!! =)

To my chagrin, I have been slacking on the specific stretches my PT lady gave me last year, but I thought I was doing pretty good. No pain in a long time. Able to work out at the gym. Able to do whatever. But apparently, I was wrong. I was not fully healed.

~~~~~Note to Self.....do your stretches!!~~~~~

 

Now my wonderful hubby gets to have the joy of finishing out the garden, because once again, I am wearing my lovely (sarcasm-again) grey boot!!!

 

Still being thankful. It could have been worse. My 8yo son wanted to know where I broke my leg...Very glad I did not break a bone when muscle tore. Could have easily fallen back down the incline at the creek and done that!!!

 

Blessings!!!!!