While temperatures are soaring all over Turtle Island (the indigenous name for North America) and the search continues for survivors of a building collapse in Miami, this old dancer has been down for the count. I’ve been busy going back to Physical Therapy, aka PT. It would seem that age is taking its toll on my body, Pilates or not! Fifteen months of gym-free living, and an extra 10 pounds combined with my first real cold and a trip to the beach has left me limping around in pain for the last week.
So don’t let all those glamorous Insta-moments fool you.
This is day four of my oral prednisone burst, and I’m finally feeling better though sleep can be patchy.
Big shout out to all the physical therapists out there! My gal at Vandy is Jen, she is a true wonder woman. She’s previously worked on my neck, my right hip, a foot and I’m sure she’ll hit every other major body part in no time. Today I told her about the Flapper’s shorter leg – she lost two inches in one leg after our Year of Living Dangerously. I guess back in 1949 there was very little PT.
Anyway, my Mother would hold onto the banister with both hands going downstairs one step at a time; and I was afraid that this could be my future too. But Jen has my problem under control – she pushes here, and has me pulling bands there and doing bridges and clamshells, and you name it! Finally, I’m able to walk without much pain.
And I told Bob today if bigamy wasn’t illegal, I’d marry her!
Which is funny because I didn’t know that in South Africa, bigamy IS legal, but only for MEN! Yep, men can have as many wives as they want, it’s called polygamy, but women can only have one husband… If a woman marries more than one husband she is stigmatized and the practice is called polyandry.
“…polyandry was once practised in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, and it is still practised in Gabon, where the law allows it. With the arrival of Christianity and colonisation the role of the woman became diminished. They were no longer equal. Marriage became one of the tools used to establish hierarchy.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57548646
As Professor Henry Higgins asks in My Fair Lady, “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?”
To be fair, I personally would not want to marry more than one person. Think of all the dinners you’d have to cook, and how would you know who fathered a baby without a DNA test? Besides, Jen is happily married.
My condition didn’t stop the Bride from dragging me to an amazing solo feminist dance exhibition on Saturday at OZ Arts https://www.ozartsnashville.org/ Watching Becca Hoback (who is 6 feet tall from Wisconsin) stretch and twist and turn and play with the role of female was a welcome relief from the heat and pain.
Happy Pride Month to ALL!
MountainMornings 