In the past, when I’ve had accidents, time has stopped. Today was such a day. Accidents, sudden ones, coming off bicycles or horses. These accidents happened when I was in motion, on a physical object. Falls, yes, falls.

I had a different kind of accident today. I was at the hotel, at the sorting table. I’d just finished sorting the books that Pete had brought over from the college, 17 boxes. I was disheartened because I’d just gotten caught up. And here, on the table before me, were a multitude of nonfiction history books, which I’d have to categorize and put in boxes. I am not a big fan of categorization because it’s slow, tedious works. And we don’t have categories for all the books.

I was walking between the table and the nonfiction shelf when I felt a very sharp pain in my lower back, left side. It was so sharp that I screamed.

I asked Pete, who was still unloading books, to get me a chair. I sat down. I was okay when I sat down, a good sign. I stood up and took three steps and again felt the pain. I sat down again. Pete finished doing what he was doing, and I again stood up.

I immediately started to experiment and seek a way of finding a way of moving that would not hurt. The alarm system in my brain, it said, “no way.” We next went to Turkey Red and put another bookcase in the lobby. This is a crafts/holiday bookcase. I knelt on the floor and stocked the lower shelf. We did not have enough books.

I experimented some more on the walk back to the car. I can loosen things up by lifting my left leg and shaking it. I can then get three steps in.

On the drive home, I of course thought about what I will and won’t be able to do. I am supposed to meet Bill tomorrow in the morning, and we are going to see if we can get books from the Turn a Leaf thrift store.

And we have a meeting tomorrow afternoon.

I know this was my day of reckoning. I really pushed it, by abandoning my body work exercises. I think that what happened was that I got discouraged when the rug was swept out from my Centered Riding career. Now that I think about it, this did have a lot to do with it.

And my summer stint instructing in Fairbanks – it did not go as well as I’d hoped because it had been so long since I’d done any ground training instruction.

But riding these past few days – it’s starting to come back, what I know.

Tonight I will take it easy and hope – there it is again, that word, for the best.

Next: 289. 10/21/23: The Morning after the Night Before