Vulnerabilities

Started the day, as I was brushing my teeth, with a worrying twinge in my back, around mid-way up. That's unusual. Normally it's my lower back that manifests signs that all is not well. In some ways that made me very worried indeed, concerned that I may be about to encounter new and interesting problems and pains; in another sense I was relieved that I wasn't experiencing a recurrence of the kind of aches I'm very familiar with and a great deal happier without. In the event, apart from feeling a mild ache in the affected area for the early part of the day, nothing untoward has taken place since, and now I feel right as rain. (Not quite sure why rain is right, but it is where I come from, at least as far as that obscure idiom is concerned.) But I remain more that well aware that my current state of good health is not just a matter of luck but a matter of improbably good luck - for which I am deeply thankful.

There's something life-enhancing about recognizing the body's fallibilities.

And those of the mind also, I must add. Of late I seem to have become more absent-minded than ever, though this might just be the result of getting back to work and not coping with the information overload involved. Case in point: I managed to forget a routine end-of-the-week task last week, one I've never missed getting done before. I completed it this morning feeling more than a bit silly. There was no harm done as, like a fair number of my admin duties, it's an entirely pointless bit of work and affected no one else at all. The thing is that at one time I would have been really annoyed with myself for any such omission and it would have bothered me enormously, but since I hardly care at all now I wonder if that precipitates the forgetfulness. I just can't be bothered forcing myself to try and remember everything. The younger version of myself sometimes suffered mild headaches when things got busy, a fact that I now find mildly astonishing.

Mind you, I do get annoyed at myself for forgetfulness when it comes to the personal stuff of real life. Somehow or other I completely forgot to respond to one of my ex-student's comments kindly dropped into this Far Place a few days back (appearing at the end of December) and so apologies if you happen to be reading this, Nurul, for the foolishly belated reply.