Foot in Mouth

Sometimes, I don't quite know what to say.

You know those awkward moments when someone has said something and you want to be supportive or witty? It is those times when I have, on occasion, said something stupid. Or perhaps, even a little hurtful.

I'm not a mean person, just not as witty as I'd like to be. Of course, a few hours later, the exact right phrase - or something close to it - sometimes pops into my head. Why couldn't it have arrived earlier?

Just in case any of you, my readers, have had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of one of my feeble attempts, I sincerely apologize. Please know that my less-than-appropriate comment was not due to my dislike of you, but to my less-than-razor sharp intellect.

I'm trying to practice simple statements. Something like "Oh, I'm sorry" or "Gee, that's too bad. I hope things work out" or "I'm glad for you." Perhaps those comments are a little trite, but at least they won't get me into trouble.

Aging Knees

For the last couple of months, my knees have been making themselves known. I'm aware of them all of the time. At one point, they were so sore I had to walk down stairs backwards. Not good!

The way I usually treat problems like this is to use the affected joint, but gently. I stopped using leg weights during exercise class. (I was using 5 pounds on each ankle.) I stopped crossing my legs when I sat (which I couldn't do anyway because it was so painful). I used a neoprene brace on the more painful knee, but that didn't seem to help - and besides, it pinched. When sitting at my desk at work, I was careful not to have my legs at a funny angle and to stretch them regularly. I also tried to get up and take short walks down the hall more frequently. I learned that walking was good but standing was not.

I'm now happy to report that my knees, while not 100% are definitely much better. A couple of days ago (before the snow) I walked down to the end of my road (1 mile) and back (1 mile uphill). The next day, my knees were feeling better than ever.

I think I'll have to be careful of my knees for a very long time, but if I do I can avoid knee replacement.

Sally Field and the movies

Remember the television show Gidget? What about The Flying Nun? Both starred Sally Field. I didn't watch either of them regularly, but I rather liked Sally Field. I've seen her in several movies over the years.

Now at 69, Sally has a wonderful new movie, Hello, My Name is Doris. M. and I saw it at the Palm Springs Film Festival last month. I've been recommending it to everyone I talk with.

Sally plays Doris, a 60 something woman working as a bookkeeping at a company in New York City. She's single and lived with her mother on Staten Island in a house full of "stuff". Her mother has just died, her brother is pressuring her to clean out the house and sell it (he owns half), and Doris is in a muddle. A new manager arrives at work (some 20 years her junior) and shows Doris kindness. She immediately develops a crush on him. What follows is funny, sad, and very real as Doris learns more about herself in a few days than she has in the past 60 years.

Most fun of all was that Sally Field and co-star Max Greenfield were there. When the film ended, they went up on stage, talked about the movie and answered audience questions. One of the things Sally said that resonated with me is that our image of ourselves is often (always?) much younger than our chronological age. I'm only a few months younger than Sally, but my internal age is somewhere in my 40s. She also commented on how few good, starring roles there are for "older" women. How true.

Please go to see Hello, My Name is Doris. I know you will like it. Doris' outfits alone are worth the price of admission.