Stupefied

Stupefyin' Jones ain't nowhere near here but I am definitely stupefied.

I got an email from my new hiking buddy. The subject was THANK YOU. There was nothing else in the email but his initial. I sent back a YOU'RE WELCOME and my initial.

I don't know what I did or what I said, except that, as usual I bugged him about taking care of himself. I worry about him. He says I shouldn't because he's a big boy. Well, I worry anyway. And he worries about me. So it's mutual.

He called today after sending me several emails. We talked for a little while, laughed a lot, and teased each other. It's a habit neither of us seems willing to break. He's been having problems with his back, but he just had surgery a few weeks ago and doesn't understand that when doctors operate on the front the back compensates for the pain of standing upright by carrying a much heavier load than it's used to carrying. But he said he gets sharp pains when he gets up from a chair or sits down. My definition of sharp pains and his are very different. He meant he gets a twinge. That's not the traditional knife I think of (and feel) when I say sharp.

I explained a yoga stretch and another exercise called the pelvic tilt (get your minds out of the gutter) that he has actually been using (he never takes my advice when it includes anything that he has take internally) that have helped. His back has improved since he started the exercises. If he continues at the same rate of twice a day he should be pretty much healed by the time he has his massage this week.

I just can't help myself. Someone is in pain and I want to help. Someone has a problem and I listen and offer advice (sometimes too often). Someone wants to talk and I want to listen. I'm always meddling in other people's lives. But, as you have seen, he meddles in mine, too.

I wouldn't have my ham radio license without his information, input, and help. I wouldn't have set a date for the AT and be hiking the Colorado Trail this year without his suggestions about books. He's even making me a camping stove and bought me a book about the AT today. We meddle in each other's lives. The only difference is that I do it with a heart of gold and he does it to get me addicted to evil things. Oh, well, in life there must be balance. I'm the angel and he's the devil.

And if you believe that one...