AnneLyze

The first mountain I climbed was for my 50th birthday and I was hooked.  Last year my sister and I climbed Noonmark for my 51st.  This year I hiked Mt Colden, the 11th highest peak in New York State. My dream mountain hike always involves stupendous views, sunshine, a gentle climb up and down, good friends and lots of laughter.  Well, it was an epic 15+ miles in 14 hours of lousy weather.  But I did have an amazing hiking buddy and that alone was awesome. We left the parking lot at 7:15am and for the next hour, the sun played peak a boo with us, but after that, it was all clouds, mist and rain. Climbing up, I felt great.  I was in my comfort zone and pleased with how well my body was responding.  There were some tricky spots, namely the floating bridge that Mim took a dive in, but overall I didn't think it was too bad. As we got closer to the top, and turned a corner, we entered a ice forest that was equal parts magical and frightening, as trees and ice c...

Back in August when I carefully and lovingly packed Ben up to go to college, I knew him leaving would be hard.  I anticipated being lonely, of missing the sights and sounds of him, the joy of cooking and watching him play sports.  I readied myself to move forward as an empty nester.  I expected all kinds of things (eating cereal for dinner, for example), but never in a million years, did I think he would break up with me. Ben and I are so much alike.  To Sam I gave all my goodness, to Ben I gave my soul, filled with both good and bad.  Like me, he is quick to punish the ones he loves best, lashing out painfully and cutting deep. Neither one of us knows how to communicate with each other and we are both sure the other one is wrong. All through high school, we were the "bickersons", the cranky older couple who have been together too long and who fought over everything, both of us taking turns at being wrong and acting like assholes.  When he left for Platts...

I am in pain 75% of my day, sometimes more.  I wake up during the night from pain, and when I stretch out my legs, I feel things jumble around in the joint.  My first step of the day is always questionable, but the more I move the better it is.  Side steps, crooked steps, going up, going down, sitting still, kayaking, all hurt. There are days when my right leg aches from the middle of my thigh to the top of my foot.  To boil it down to six little words.... my right knee is fucked up. To watch me work, you would never know it. I walk quickly and with purpose.  I always take the stairs.  I don't limp and most days it is tolerable.  But going for a walk, using the treadmill, the rowing machine, swimming and even kayaking, it hurts, and not in one particular area, but in a bunch;  the medial and lateral sides (torn meniscus), the lower medial (burst bursa sac), the back of my knee (bakers cyst) the top of my knee (arthritis).  It clicks and cla...