FRIDAY THE 13TH & A FULL MOON

According to the San Francisco Giants announcer, Jon Miller, the combination of a full moon on Friday the 13th won’t happen again for 35 years!  That is just fine with me. I’m not particularly superstitious BUT I do know that people (drivers in particular) do a lot of weird stuff during a full moon. This double whammy last Friday had me going “Whoa!”, as Charley & I say when we lift up the ears on her stuffed Snoopy.

I awoke as any day on Friday, June 13^th. I called my father as usual but felt the urge to sneeze just as we were ending the call. I quickly said good-bye, turned slightly & let out a healthy sneeze. At that point my back almost exploded! I knew it was bad within seconds & uttered a few emphatic expletives which prompted Lou to come in saying what’s wrong. When you’ve lived 64 years with various back issues you know when it is NOT good.

It took me about a minute to get up off the chair. I literally could not move for a short while. As I slowly made my way to the freezer for the ice pack followed by the bathroom for several ibuprophen, I was royally pissed off! Those of you who have suffered with lower back problems understand the anger & frustration that immediately takes hold when you realize that you will be miserable for days. Not to mention that comfort, sleeping & your daily routine are shot to hell.

About that time, my sister, Karen, who is the expert on back problems (far worse than mine), called to say she was sitting beside the road with a truck that crapped out & wouldn’t move. Her husband had come over from work but couldn’t get it going. She was waiting for the tow truck. So far the Friday the 13th/full moon combination was two for two & it wasn’t even 9 AM.

Later that evening as I lay on the floor with ice on my back & Karen's conked out truck sat in the garage, we watched our Giants blow a lead in the 9th inning that could only be explained by the Friday the 13th/full moon combo. That’s where we heard Jon Miller as he looked up the next similar event – 35 years away. Thank goodness!

We had plans to meet for lunch on Sunday at the facility where our dad is currently rehabbing from a partial foot amputation. It was Father’s Day so his two daughters were going to bring him a Taco Bell lunch, visit & do our best to make it an okay Father’s Day given the circumstances.

BUT she had no wheels to make the 100 mile drive from her house to Danville. I had wheels but was nursing a back that was spasming like crazy as I decided whether to make the 100 mile drive from my house.

In the end I decided to suck it up & drive in. If this ended up being his last Father’s Day on this earth, I figured I couldn’t live with myself if I let him spend it alone in a rehab facility. Armed with my ice pack & a back brace off I went. My plan was to stop every half hour to walk around & stretch a bit. That last leg both ways was a bit tough but I survived.

I’m not really sure whether my dad cared that much that I was there. But he enjoyed his enchirito, taco & beans. And I know that whatever happens, I made the effort to spend Father’s Day with him leaving me with a clear conscious.

This is now Day Six of my latest back escapade & it is finally feeling well enough to sit at my computer for the time it takes to write this. Thank God it only seems to happen this bad every few years. And I’m sure it wasn’t helped by my visit with Charley yesterday – physically, that is – mentally it was the best medicine!