I met someone new on the weekend who seemed a little obsessively helpful about my knee. “Have you tried copper?” “”Do you know that they make aspirin just for arthritis now?” “When are you getting a new knee?”
This was followed by a stream of questions about what I could and couldn’t do.
It was all because I was wearing my knee brace.
The thing is I have excellent medical care. I believe my doctors when they say if someone is selling stem cell transplants that they say will fix your knees, they’re lying. They know I’m an academic and so they joyfully refer me to the research. And while I don’t exactly like the knee brace–it’s bulky and ugly–I appreciate that it lets me do things like walk 14,000 steps in New York.
My kids try to make me feel better by telling me it looks Ninja steam punk. Whatever.
This person acted like I couldn’t do anything. She was shocked that I could ride a bike.
I guess we all need things to talk to strangers about. I get that. And I get that the knee brace looks big and scary and dramatic. But in the scheme of things it’s not that interesting. It’s functional. It works. I’m very happy to have it.
It made me wonder if I’ve ever been that person. Have I ever obsessed about an assistive device rather than paying attention to the person using it? If so, please accept my apologies.
When I went to a friend’s birthday party Sunday night I didn’t wear the knee brace. I took it off along with my jacket when I got there. I decided I had better things to talk about. Like Russian Doll. It was a Russian Doll themed birthday party. It would be fun to edit a “Philosophy and Russian Doll” collection. What do you think?
I used to get questioned incessantly about my eyebrow piercing. When I took it out it left a scar and now I get questions about that. It’s funny what little thing someone will attach to and not let go of….how they will forever define you in their mind despite all of your other attributes.
Oh lord, the reactions I got when I got my nose pierced back in the early 90s. I worked at a restaurant and got incessant questions from customers about what my nose ring “meant”. Telling them that it was just a decoration didn’t work. They insisted that it must “mean something” and were determined to question me until I told them. And because I was at work, I couldn’t just walk away.
The ornery part of my personality wishes that you’d responded with a story about the ancient peoples of which you are direct descendant and how, in that culture, a circle on the nose represents oneness with the mother spirit. . . or some such. 😉