Seems the arthritic changes in my bones my PCP found on my last x-ray can and will flare up when ever the hell it wants to. Moderate to annoying but not terribly severe lower back and shoulder pain flared up two days ago. From out of nowhere.
Still feeling it a little bit today. It's funny how it starts in one spot and travels everywhere in my body like it's looking for a way out. Shoulders were especially bad this time and the exact same spot on my left hip I previously complained about to Dr K. started soon after. My wife could see how uncomfortable I was in a very short amount of time.
By the next day nearly every finger and toe hurt at some point, bones in my feet and hands and the symphony of snaps, crackles and pops i could hear and feel from my neck to my wrists, elbows and shoulders would make a certain box of cereal jealous.
I haven't taken anything for the pain and it hasn't completely gone away yet but I have had two flare ups in about two weeks time. I suppose this is just something new to get used to.
I need to start marking the calendar.
...
Went to Sandy Hook last Saturday and remembered how a year ago last summer we were down there with friends of ours and Steve took us to the Navesink Light House. I had never seen it before. I snapped a photo of the Hook from the light house tower we climbed into.
We had a great time that day. We stayed on the bay side and wasted the day away playing with the kids, looking for shells and tiny fish and dodging the tide.
In January of this year Steve died of a sudden heart attack at age 39. Steve and I were becoming very good friends as our families hung out together. His youngest and my oldest are class mates. His death hit me like a ton of bricks.
On our way out of Sandy Hook this past Saturday we hit some construction traffic and were caught in the shadow of the Navasink Light house and the sunset. We snapped some more photos of the light house and the shore line and setting sun and it struck me all over again how much I miss Steve.
Sandy Hook, the twin light houses of Navesink and the bay side of the hook will always remind me of him and the days we spent getting to know each other as our families spent the better part of last year together.
It was very strange seeing the light house again. If not for Steve it never would have registered and it would mean nothing to me.
A few months after our day at Navesink last year I discovered a Jersey based band called The Gas Light Anthem and they have a song called "The Navesink Banks"
The lyrics don't apply to anything other than it references the "light on the navesink banks" and it will always be associated to that day and that place because of Steve. (and because I like this band)
"all hope abandon, ye who enter here"
said the sign i read that was hanging above her bed
and the sirens over wailing
but a man cant ignore the signs
you gotta keep a good eye
on the winding road ahead
and my first sin was a young american girl
and i spent time 'neath the tressels
with the punks and the dimestore saints
kept faith and a switchblade tucked beneath my coat
and i ran with dirty angels
slept out in the rain
we were scared and tired and barely 17
and my first sin was the fear that made me old
and i walked down by the shipyards
near the place where i was born
saying "ah maria, if you woulda known me when..."
but she just smiles by the light on the navesink banks
saying "listen baby i know you now"
and she steps into the river
and i just stand by the moon
thinkin' 'bout a ghost i hear at night
and she says your first sin was a lie you told yourself
Here is a you tube video of a live performance...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu7M7eGsVII&feature=related
I can not wait until I can catch these guys live someday.
Be Well.
-Scott.
