Friday, December 08, 2006

Saqtorque Antidote

Yesterday I splurged on myself and got a 15 minute chair massage across the street from my office.  It was a powerful, deep tissue assault on my knotty delts, and I’ve needed it for a long time.  The office was mellow and played good music.  I’m really glad I went.  In honor of the marginal improvement in my spinal condition, here’s a recent screed about my dorsal region:

I’ve been in a quandary, frankly, about the messenger bag.  It’s a standby: familiar, reliable, nigh indestructible.  I know how to hide things in it, and where it hides things.  I know how to swing it up to my shoulder with a freewheeling panache that gives me great satisfaction…. But lately, that’s where the trouble has been starting.

The bag’s ability to carry heavy loads has encouraged me to, well, carry heavy loads, and the bag is often sufficient laden to leave me feeling, at either end of my bus-borne commute, rather scoliotic.  When I hang all that weight on one shoulder, letting it dangle next to the opposite hip, the torque tweaks my spine – a classic torque-tweak, if you’re keeping track. The point is, I’m literally getting bent out of shape by my own messenger bag, my faithful helpmate, my inseparable pal.  Et tu, Timbuktu?

It wasn’t till a recent morning that I figured out an antidote.  The smart solution, of course, is to carry less, and I have a plan for that, oh yes, and a good one.  But for now, before I can put that plan into effect, I have this – an antidote.  It’s significantly better than nothing.  In fact, in some ways, it’s better than anything. 

It was hell morning for Kelly.  For any number of excellent reasons she had to be at work as early as possible, so she just attended to that and I got Z and me together and out the door later on.  I woke him, changed him (twice), got him fed and dressed and kept him out of trouble while I did the same for myself, with one additional changing thrown in….

And then we bundled into jackets and went out to wait for the bus.  I held Zach in my right arm, the bag was slung over my left shoulder. They weren’t quite balanced counterweights, but they offset each other fairly well.  I didn’t really notice, though, because the bus came quickly.

We sat down and rode six blocks, and then got off to walk two-up-two-over to daycare.  This was far enough for me to notice the extra weight, but I noticed it in a pleasantly unexpected way: After a couple of blocks I got the hang of playing the weight of the baby off the weight of the bag.  I didn’t feel torqued.  I felt engaged by the forty-five extra pounds on my frame; they were pretty well distributed.  My shoulders and hips creaked into synch again.  It felt good.

I think it somewhat startled Zach as I began to stretch a little into this new orthopedic orientation and my back popped and clunked audibly back into alignment.  It did make a pretty big thunk, I have to admit.  But right afterwards I just hugged him a little more closely and carried him a little higher, and I think he was cool with it.  It was definitely cool with me.  By the time we got to his day care, I was having a bit of a revelation: If I’m carrying so much crap around with me that it’s turning me into a human corkscrew, I have an antidote.  I should lift up my son and hold him close to me for a while.  That will set me right in no time flat. 

Have a good weekend.  I know I will.  Plenty more to post, just hard to find the time to get it up here...