And that’s how you displace a rib

I used to be really bendy when I was younger.  (Steady folks.) Comes of being a gymnast.  I was incredibly flexible.  (STEADY…)  Which is great when most of what you do in sport is bend in half backwards, run, skip and bounce.  Trouble is, all those extra-stretchy ligaments?  After years and years of stretching?  They get loose.  Think 1950s streewalker plied with cigarettes and mint juleps kind of loose.

I can pop a rib out of place by, say, putting on a dress.  The other day I did pop a rib putting on a dress.  I dragged it on over my head, stretched to get my right arm through… and pop!  Stabbing pain through my chest wall.  Which each frickin’ breath.  My body is so screwed that I can pop a rib by tilting to the side when I blow dry my hair.

And once that rib’s out?  Hard to pop it back in all by yourself.  I can’t just whack myself against the wall like Detective Riggs, hoping that everything will be all hunky dory.

I pop those ribs and I’m making a call to my chiropractor who then yells at me for not coming in for a tune up sooner.  “You need to MAINTAIN!  You have to MAINTAIN your spine! How many times do I have to say this to you?!?”

But really?  Who has the time or the money to do maintenance on themselves?  I don’t have extra cash just there, waiting to be spent on me.  After I separated my shoulder several years ago, I was supposed to have massages once a month to ensure I didn’t seize up. I was really good about going… for the first year and a half.  Okay, the first year… Okay, six months…  Then I started to slack off.  I think I’m lucky now, if I get a professional massage once a year.  I go into the clinic and my massage therapist ‘tsk-tsk’s me.  She shakes her head and gives me the same eyes that disappointed European wives give to their spouses. 

What kind of disposable income does a gal need for spine and rib maintenance?  I’m sure that I must be able to scrape together the extra dough to be able to tweak and tune.  I don’t need to be  rich.  I just need that little bit of extra cash at the end of the month.  You know… after we’ve paid the remaining six grand on our new roof, chipped away at our credit line debt and Visa bill, saved for our retirement and Rissa’s education, shifted funds for our house insurance, bought food, paid for Rissa’s dance lessons, utilities and ensured that David’s salary dip (because of union and membership fees etc.) doesn’t bankrupt us come January when we lose $250 every two weeks.  Oh yeah, I’m sure that after ALL that, there’ll be more than enough so that I can get a… massage.  Nice to have these 1st World problems, no?  This is all they’re thinking about in Egypt right now.