A shortened season

No matter how passionate you are about a personal project, there are times when it simply has to be set aside so one can focus on more urgent or important things. For example, our relocation this year consumed a lot of “free time” in April, May, and early June. Or, consider the recession; the economy has magnified and accelerated the needs of the company I work for and the clients we serve. It has been really busy. Complain? I think not! Lots of people would love to have that problem right now... I do not take my employment for granted in any way. The point is, sometimes, we must do what we need to do, before we can do what we want to do. So, while I’ve been blessed with a few wonderful river and wetland expeditions this year, I haven’t gotten out on the water as much as I would have liked to.

Now, there is one more such task I must complete, before I can get to the next river clean-up. As I have long suspected, it seems I have a rather nasty tear in a couple of muscles; something I have apparently aggravated recently. This week, I have learned the issue will require some surgical repairs. (Not life threatening, by a long shot… but not exactly fun, either.) Until those repairs have healed, I’m not supposed to lift anything “strenuous.” Translation: No more river clean-ups for Mike this season.

Now I know what an athlete must feel like when they’re told they’re out for the season. (Although I’m certainly no athlete… and they get paid a lot more for playing games than I do for cleaning up river trash!) To say the least, it’s frustrating.

But let’s make lemonade from lemons, shall we? Since I’ve been anticipating this for a while, I’ve been thinking about a “non-strenuous” way of contributing to the whole idea of conservation.

I’ll share that idea with you here, soon.

Mike

© 2009 Mike D. Anderson, St. Michael, MN. All rights reserved.