The alarm on my phone went off at 10am this morning. Not to wake me up, but to remind me to take my pre-dental-work antibiotics.
The reason those are needed is because of my total knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago. They are a preventative measure to ensure that no bacteria from dental-work get into my bloodstream and make their way to my artificial knee joint, and cause an infection.
The reason I needed a total knee replacement was because of a lifetime of walking, running, and hiking, along with degenerative arthritis.
The reason for all the walking, running, and hiking is because movement of any kind is a gift to be put to good use, and because there isn’t much I love more than being out on the trail somewhere with the guy I love.
The reason for my arthritis is probably genetic, as both of my parents dealt with the same.
The reason I love being out on the trail is because the guy I love introduced me to life on the trail, starting with a marriage proposal on a late fall day in the Indian Heaven Wilderness area.
The reason for his choice of the Indian Heaven Wilderness area is that it is a place he loves, and is in our Pacifc Northwest neck of the woods.
The reason the Pacific Northwest is in our collective neck of the woods is because I was born here, and he ended up here after Mt. St. Helens erupted and he got a job as a research scientist as a result.
The reason for the dental work today, which includes, wait for it…..a cleaning, 3 replacement fillings, and a new crown…is to complete it before the total knee replacement of my other knee a month from now.
The reason for another new knee is more of the same for the other one.
The reason for writing all of this is to remind myself, and maybe you, that everything is connected. That in some way it is never simply this or that, but this and that. That what we love in life both blesses us and costs us.
The reason it blesses us is because that is what loving something does.
The reason it costs us is because that is the price of admission to a life worth choosing.
