Wednesday, January 08, 2003

I was always the healthy

I was always the healthy one, by which I mean least sickly, least incapacitated by health concerns.  I didn’t miss a lot of school, despite a rash of broken bones and a few serious sunburns.  I did well with doctors, took my shots without much complaint… but I do share the family’s congential deformity: the accessory scaffoid, an extra bone in the meat of my foot, just above where normals have an arch.  My kin and I are archless.  Through some cruel quirk of coincidence, both my parents were born with a highly unusual recessive condition, and by mating they guaranteed that both my sister and I would get it too.  Mom and dad both have had surgery to correct it, unsuccessfully - now dad can’t walk much anymore and mom is missing parts of some of her toes.  Sis’s weak ankles helped shorted her terpsichorean career - a few serious pulls and reconstructions and she couldn’t think of dancing any more.  I’ve worn orthotics since 8th grade and always favored biking over running because of my flat pronating pods.  But here’s the thing: in the 13 years or so I’ve been doing yoga, I’ve always blamed my poor balance on my weak ankles. They were a very convenient foil for explaining my tendency to topple during tree or triangle.  But it turns out that sis, whose ankles are a lot worse than mine, can do tree just fine.  Deprived of my excuse, I am now learning to do tree also.  Turns out I do have some sense of balance, though it badly needs development.  “Balance” is my special challenge for the year, according to a card I selected at random at High Holiday services last autumn.  So long as I am upright I will embrace that challenge.