Petulant Child(ing)

We are packing up this morning and will head home around noon. As per usual, I am behaving like a petulant child who has had her favorite toy taken away. I do this every time I have to leave a beach. Doesn’t matter if it is Orange Beach, Hilton Head, Seagrove, or even La Jolla in San Diego, I am depressed at having to leave. Keep in mind that one of those beaches came with a threat of a third earthquake in four days. Doesn’t matter, I hate leaving the beach. The only beach I can remember being more than ready to leave was Sanibel. I loved the island and Captivating was even more beautiful, but that beach in the Summer was miserable. They have these bugs that will bite without remorse and there is no bug spray on earth to keep them away. I did collect some beautiful shells there, so it was not a total loss.

Here is how it goes with us when we have to leave. We pretty much say goodbye to the water’s edge the night before because going down there the morning we have to leave is just too painful. It is like calling an ex the morning after you’ve broken up. It just makes the pain that more real. The morning of departure is spent packing. Ugh!  I always try to bring along a laundry bag for the dirty clothes, and when I am packing, I always think "I should have more room in the suitcase/bag for my clean clothes because the laundry bag is full of dirty ones."  That is hardly ever the case, however, because apparently, I overloaded the suitcase when packing to come down, so when I re-pack, it is still full.  It can just take a breath now.

    

When we stay in hotels, we never ask for the room to be serviced during our stays.  It is not that we think someone will steal something.  I mean they can do that at any time of day if they so choose.  We just never know when we will be in the room and it is just easier to leave that hanging thing on the door asking for privacy.  The always ask if we need anything and we always tip at the end of our stay as if they serviced the room daily.  If you don't leave tips for the housekeeping staffs of your hotels, allow me to take a moment to encourage you to do so.  They get paid so little, and their jobs are so important.  Anyway, leaving for us means driving straight home.  No shopping stops on the way, no veering off to explore this or that.  Nope.  Straight home, because when it is over, it is over.  After I check out, I will head down to wait until Anthony is finished and we can leave.  

Now, about that brace I have been wearing on my knee.  I have tested it these four days, and it has performed beautifully.  If you come to the Gulf coast a lot, you know that we brag about our white sand.  It is beautiful and I HATE it!!  It is terrible to walk in, especially for someone with severe arthritis (almost bone on bone) and a torn meniscus in one of her knees.  I have had knee issues for years, and have been able to manage them pretty well.  In fact, months would go by without a flare-up of any kind.  For the past several months, however, my knee has gotten progressively worse, and the simple act of sitting at my desk for too long would make it swell and hurt.  I have been in so much pain that it has brought me to tears on more than one occasion.  There have been times when I would be walking just fine, and it would twist or pop, and would almost bring me to the ground.  I am not a pill popper and the cream he gave me had some pretty scary side effects, so I have been looking for a way to manage my issue without shots or surgery.  If you know me well, you  know that Tammy doesn't go to the doctor.  I actually went to an orthopedist for this issue.  That is how bad it had gotten.  They took x-rays and when he came in with the images, he asked me what I thought was the problem.  Pretty sure I came to him so HE could tell ME.  I told him that I thought I had arthritis, a torn meniscus, and was carrying too much weight.  He said BINGO!  I paid a co-pay for that?  He basically told me to lose weight, rub that cream on my knee and one day I would be back begging for cortisone shots.  Great guy!  

We all know how hard it is to lose weight and how much time it takes, and I have already stated that I was not going to depend on pills and a creme, so I responded to a FB add for a knee brace called itBandz.

It is a band that goes around the bottom of your knee, and when I was ordering it, my boss told me that it was a crock and would not work.  I told him it cost $24 and was worth a shot.  Guess who was right?  When I say this is life changing, I am not joking even a little bit.  I have not walked miles or anything while down here, but had I brought the proper footwear, I really believe I could have.  I have experienced zero swelling, no popping, no buckling, no pain-----nothing!  The best test was when I walked down the beach in that thick billowy sand, and sat down in a beach chair that was pretty low to the ground even though it was a higher seat than most.  Easy peasy.  I am not kidding.  If you suffer from knee pain, PLEASE go to itbandz.com and get one of these as fast as you can.  I ordered the xl because of swelling, but I could easily have just ordered the large and even the medium.  It will change your life.  Seriously.  Also I get no compensation from the company for saying all of this (I wish), and if it matters, and it does to me, this is a company started by women, so Go Girls!!!

We are finally about to leave to head home.  I will drive back to Anniston tomorrow for work, but right now, I am happy to live in Alabaster, because what was once an almost six hour trip for us, is now easily a four hour or less.  Yay South Shelby County!!  Until next trip, thanks for reading and for your comments of support.  I was not sure anyone would be interested in this one, since everyone comes to our coast, but I guess reading other's perspectives is nice.  It was certainly fun to blog about.