I teach on campus two days a week, and my classroom location is a significant hike from my office. Normally, it takes me about 10 minutes to walk there, and a lot of that walking involves a gradual incline.
Today, I was trying to get the walk done a bit quicker than normal. Every since my doctor’s appointment, I have been working hard to do a better job of supporting my ankle. With that in mind, today I wore tennis shoes to work. White Reeboks looks kind of funny with black dress pants, by the way.
My plan was to get to class early and quickly switch shoes, hoping a minor number of students noticed my tennis shoes. This meant I was walking faster than normal, and I was working up a bit of a sweat.
In one of the steepest parts of my walk, my cell phone rang with an unfamiliar number. I answered it, and I heard, “Linda Sherwood? This is Name from the Department of Human Services. We’re calling about your daughter.”
OK that is enough to stop any parent’s heart. I kept walking as I waited for the woman to explain herself, and I was thinking of all kinds of horrible things. And I thought these things even though I knew it probably wasn’t really about MY child but rather a friend of my child.
And the woman was quick to confirm that. There is an investigation, and my daughter is a potential witness. The woman was calling for my permission to talk to my daughter today at school.
Before the woman completely explained the situation, I let her know that I was aware of it. My daughter had came home in tears last week because of the situation, and she had really been hurting about her friend.
The worker on the other end of the line asked me what I knew, and I told her what I could remember. It was kind of a lengthy bit of conversation for me, and as I was talking, I was also walking up the hill.
And my voice was not my normal voice. I could hear myself breathing hard as I exerted energy while trying to talk a whole bunch.
It was embarrassing. Here I am talking about a serious situation, and I was gasping for breath in between sentences. I knew the woman could hear it. I took a time out to mention that I was in walking while talking and to apologize for the wheezing.
Hopefully, the woman at DHS is now thinking of me as some fitness nut unable to stop her workout long enough to talk rather than the truth — someone who is out of shape and overweight and if required to talk more than a single sentence at a time, expect to hear wheezing and gasping.
Sigh.
Ankle Update: The combination of the medicine for days I work and the ankle brace has really worked well for me. It is amazing how much better I feel both mentally and physically now that I am not in pain at the end of the day. I have energy again. I am even starting to resume some exercising, and I’ve started to see some results.
The bad news, however, is that my x-rays show significant degenerative arthritis and bone spurs. I am being referred to an orthopedic surgeon.
