{"id":81509,"date":"2020-09-30T06:43:04","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T10:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=81509"},"modified":"2020-09-30T06:45:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T10:45:02","slug":"%e2%80%a8the-old-coot-is-elbow-challenged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/09\/30\/%e2%80%a8the-old-coot-is-elbow-challenged\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2028The Old Coot is elbow challenged"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sitting in a window seat at the Owego Kitchen, watching two robins waddle around, pecking at worms in front of the post office. Not too exciting you say. You\u2019re wrong. It is, for an old coot, anyhow. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a nice distraction from a changing world. When you\u2019re young, you can\u2019t wait for change \u2013 to graduate from school \u2013 to get a job \u2013 to get your own place – to get married \u2013 to buy a new car. <\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, you go the other way; you don\u2019t want change; you want things to stay the way they are. That\u2019s when you officially become an old coot. You\u2019ve decided that change is not for the better, at least not for you. <\/p>\n

It means another friend moved away; he gave up winter and moved to Florida or Arizona. It means your favorite restaurant just went out of business. It means you\u2019ve heard yet another clerk say, \u201cThey don\u2019t make that anymore.\u201d  <\/span><\/p>\n

You just want to block out the changes that pop into your life in an endless parade: eggs are bad for you, coffee is bad for you, meat is bad for you, it can\u2019t be repaired, the lawn mower won\u2019t start unless you squeeze the handle (and keep squeezing it the entire time you are mowing). CHANGE! UGH! <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s change is my elbow – the right one, to be specific. It hurts. It\u2019s a new pain; I\u2019ve never had it before. So, I sit here drinking coffee with my left hand, dribbling a few drops on a clean shirt, distracting myself by watching two robins. Eventually, I\u2019ll have to get back to the elbow and try to puzzle it out, to wonder why I didn\u2019t appreciate it last week when it felt so good. And, I\u2019ll have to face the question, \u201cWhat did you do to it?\u201d When I reply, it will be the same answer I\u2019ve had for every other new pain. \u201cNothing!\u201d<\/p>\n

I did some \u201cold man\u201d push-ups (standing up and leaning into a wall). I moved some books to different shelves and sawed a board in half with a handsaw. Not really much of anything! I hate this conversation; it always gets me the same response, from everybody I complain to – my doctor, my wife, and my friends. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to expect that at your age!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned to deal with these things, to turn lemons into lemonade as the saying goes (easier said than done, I might add). I\u2019ll complain enough to get out of some unpleasant chores. I\u2019ll make a sling or buy an elastic elbow support to let the world know that I\u2019m sporting an injury. I\u2019ll tell people it is tennis elbow. I won\u2019t mention that the last time I played tennis was in 1991 when my daughter Amy beat me for the first time. That\u2019s when I paraded out the tennis elbow excuse.<\/p>\n

Now, the pain that I faked so long ago has finally arrived. It would be even more embarrassing than losing to a 17-year-old if I had to reveal the real cause. I figured it out as I sat here watching the robins. The pain comes from constantly walking around with a coffee container in my hand. My elbow finally gave out. I have coffee elbow! Ouch!       <\/p>\n

Comments, complaints. Send to mlessler7@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sitting in a window seat at the Owego Kitchen, watching two robins waddle around, pecking at worms in front of the post office. 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