Pulled on Pressure Washer = Pulled Out Back

Written on 6-9-16.

     I’m out on our back deck, Sanctuary, on a Thursday evening.  The breezes are beginning to cool a bit, although it’s just 8:04.  I have just finished the first week of The First Tee in Aztec.  So far, it’s been fine, just fine.  It's a ton of work, but once everything is set up, it really is great fun.  This is my first year teaching Birdie level lessons, and I am thankful to have a group of four for that group this summer, especially considering I only had two who had certified at that level last summer.  A family with three siblings (who had worked with Tom before he left) came back to join in again with The First Tee again, so it’s those three and one of my own from last summer.

     Anyway, I have no reason to dread The First Tee.  I’m glad I’m doing it; I think it was a bit tougher this time because I feared the unknown.  I wasn’t sure how I would do the schedule.  I didn’t know how many would sign up.  I even put more work on myself by digitally redoing my diagrams for the warm-ups and the activities.  Now, I have a better grasp of my schedule for June and July.  I have 20 who have signed up, and once I...
recreated the diagrams, they’re done now and I wonder why I was fussy about it at all.

     In other news, I tweaked my back after years and years of zero serious back problems.  It wasn’t one major event, although I did feel it literally tweak (just slightly) while lifting our coffee table when B and I were moving it before steam cleaning our living room carpet a little over a week ago.  Danielle had somehow accidentally spilled milk and Dr. Pepper on the same night.  The milk didn’t quite get picked up, and a stench was growing fast.  The Dr. Pepper had left a dark residue stain in front of our couch, so it really needed to be done.  

     This is how I injured my back.  It probably started with driving to Denver for Ray’s funeral.  It grew worse with a trip to Las Cruces for James’s graduation the very next weekend, a fabulous and successful event, but all that sitting was not healthy, especially for my back.  The pain and discomfort continued to grow when I played 18 holes back here at home after all that driving.  Then I drove back to Las Cruces again, but with James and Danielle only for my second ever Time to Teach training at Loma Heights Elementary School, an incredibly successful training with complimentary evaluations and super high scores.  James and Danielle treated me to an early Fathers’ Day date, too, complete with dinner at James’s restaurant Lorenzo’s, the Captain America: Civil War movie, and some shopping at Target (new golf balls for me!).  The movie was great, but it wasn’t so great for my back either.  It was an early Fathers’ Day because Danielle will still be in Cambodia and James will be in New Zealand when the real Fathers’ Day comes around.  So glad and thankful we had that time together.  

     All of those things preceded what really caused it to go out, Dale’s pressure washer.  We were borrowing it to wash off the deck, and it was struggling to start.  I was struggling to get it to start, also, and I am confident at starting small engines with all of my lawn mowing experience from my youth.  The problem was that there was no water flow, so even when I got it to start with some starter fluid, and it revved like a dragster, it was doomed to sputter and fail.  Again, and again, and again.  And with every attempt, I pulled with bad form on that rip cord.  Rip cord is a fitting name, but it was my back that was ripping with every pull.  I’ve been recovering for a little over a week now, and it has slowly improved, but it has prevented me from working out like I should be, and it has also caused me to be extremely cautious when walking, sitting, stretching, lying down, getting up, etc.  

     I was able to do a full swing with an 8-iron yesterday with my two boys in my Par group.  My back worked.  I even hit the green!  I play with C.J. tomorrow to get ready for the Robbie Ward Memorial on Saturday.  We usually play with Bruce and Rei, but they have something going on this weekend, so we are playing with Pat Otero and Mike Goen instead.  What a great team!  It’s going to be a fun Saturday.  As long as my back can survive it.

Until next time…