The Voyage of the Tramper

Dory had: “Just keep swimming”.  Lucky fish. Every time they see the little castle its a new surprise. (or at least Ani DiFranco says so).  Here I sit again in a hospital waiting room while Jane gets another procedure.  It’s an odd state, just me and my thoughts…how do I keep them positive.  During chemo I liked reading Jane’s blog (janesposse) because I learned things she wasn’t saying out loud.  One day I realized in my empty house that if she didn’t make it she would have insisted that I grieve then recover and celebrate her life and my own.  Fortunately she made it through that ordeal.  Today I pore through my orthopedic knowledge that most fractured clavicles don’t heal.   Metastasis is not the only reason a clavicle wont heal.  Non-unions are common.  During the amazing flexibility of shoulder ROM the clavicle rotates  60 degrees during its vertical and angular translation.  When people sleep, they can’t help but lay on it so the bone  often doesn’t knit well and folks just get a cute little bump while they return to function.

The origin of  “The Mechanic Way Will Have His Way” goes 14 years back to moving into our current home.  the ceiling fan was warm, wet, and still turned on after we took possession of the house!  I took down the trashed plaster lathe ceiling, to find the tub drain in the bathroom above leaking.  Jane watched as I moved through a progression of “Bigger Wrenches”.  When I hung on a 6 foot cheater bar (extension for a pipe wrench) and the pipe didn’t budge, Jane said; “thats never going to come apart”.  My reply:  “Don’t worry, The Mechanic Will Have his Way”.  (In the end, I used a sawzall to cut neatly through the fittings, just kissing the threads of the pipe I wanted to preserve.  The culprit unscrewed like butter or some better analogy).

Since that day, every time I face an insurmountable barrier, I think….”Don’t worry, The Mechanic Will Have his Way”.

Yup, at work, under the car, looking at bounced checks, in traffic…any time I need to remind myself to relax (Don’t tell Jane to Relax)…just keep swimming.  Each morning, if you’ve been fortunate enough to sleep well in that safe place we call our bed, you wake up”Re-set”.  Think about it, muscles healing and a new perspective: EVERY MORNING!

Treasure your mantra

David