The Luckiest People

People

People who need people

Are the luckiest people in the world,

It's been over a month since I completed a blog or wrote a story for a contest.  Part of me fretted and stewed, but then my brain and body began to relax. Music danced in my blood day after day. Like a broken record Barbra Streisand's voice floated in my head . Her words seemed to transform my soul from worry to delight and relief.  

We're children, needing other children

And yet letting our grown-up pride

Hide all the need inside,

Acting more like children

Than children.   

I realized that people mean the world to me: sharing stories, working together, discussing life, living life, making memories, meeting new friends in new places, and rediscovering old friends.

 Lovers are very special people,

They're the luckiest people

In the world.

With one person, one very special person

A feeling deep in your soul

Says you were half,

Now you're whole.

No more hunger and thirst

We've traveled to Wisconsin to visit family, spent a day with a rediscovered pen-pal while in Missouri, crisscrossed the state of Oklahoma and drove down to Texas to find a lost cemetery and unmarked grave. Jack's traveled with his buddies, and I've traveled with my girlfriends.  We need each other, but we need our friends and family nearly as much. 

But first be a person

Who needs people.

Last week I realized, as I sang her song quietly in my head while playing golf, that my back didn't hurt. It hadn't hurt for several weeks. I experienced no pain: no pain down my legs like streak lightning, no pain that prevented me from turning through the ball, no pain at impact.  Feelings that I had not experienced in a decade. The realization lifted every ounce of weight off my old low back and catapulted me into bliss.  

People who need people

Are the luckiest people

In the world!

Without pain I could enjoy my time with people. Giving my attention to their words, not worrying about my back! New songs drifted in and out of my head, a lightness gave me energy and I smiled. How blessed I am to have readers who relate to my stories, to have family and friends who share their lives with me, and to be living in American.  Look out world, here I come.  

Barbra Streisand singing People Who Need People from Funny Girl

Golf Gypsy In a Pickle

It's one thing to stretch and rub a leg cramping while walking or playing golf, but it is a moment of agony to wake up in the middle of the night with three toes cramped tight, turned under and sideways while the left calf is pulsating knots of pain up and down the leg.  Screaming, grabbing, and yanking myself out of bed to stand and push the pain away, as tears of surprise and near anger flowed down my cheeks, is one way to handle the moment. Actually, I didn't stop to think of a better way. 

Options in the past for recovering from summer's heat, and the perspiration my body exudes when exercising have been to drink "Smart Styx" replenishment supplements, 60-100 oz of water daily, eat a banana, or drink a nice cool beer in a frosted mug with salt on the rim, and continue to take daily doses of calcium, potassium, and magnesium pills. 

I mentioned my agonizing leg cramps to my physical therapist, Natoshia, Therapy in Motion. Immediately, like a chorus to a song Natoshia and another therapist chimed in "You need to drink pickle juice!"  They looked at each other and laughed.  She continued, "You need to drink pickle juice or eat a dill pickle everyday, and eat a banana before you play golf or go for long walks." 

"I've never heard of pickle juice as a cure," I retorted and then laughed, "Unless it was to drink with Crown Royal shots after you've lost a golf match." 

Naturally, that line was a stopper. They listened as I recalled the time Manon and I were beat early in a "Horse Race" at a golf tournament at Smoky Hills Golf Course in Hays, Ks.  As spectators, the cart girl came by offering us drinks.  Our friends who'd also lost suggested we try Crown Royal shots and dill pickle juice.   I can assure you that I did not suffer leg cramps that weekend, nor did I suffer a hangover, but we sure laughed a lot. 

But I digress.  

Being a dutiful student, I bought a 6-pack of Pickle Juice at Academy Sports, and bananas at Braum's, plus Ice Cream bars just because. I ate the banana before I drove in the driveway. That afternoon while relaxing on the patio, I discovered that I enjoyed the flavor of the nutritional bottle of pickle juice, loaded with sodium, vitamins, calcium, zinc, iron, and potassium.  For those, like me, who can eat a healthy dose of salt consider sprinkling salt on bananas, grapefruit, and cucumbers instead of sugar. 

Most recently, I rediscovered the old fashioned giant dill pickle that spurts juice everywhere when I take a bite. For a brief moment, I'm back at the Coleman Theatre on a Saturday afternoon with friends where I could buy a large dill pickle out of the jar for only a dime. Coleman Theatre


Did the pickle juice and banana help? Yes.  So far no leg cramps in the last three weeks.

I'm not recommending this pickle juice/banana regime for everyone, because I have low blood pressure, perspire measurably, and can handle salt.  I've always been a salt lover, while my husband can thrive on chocolate. If I eat ice cream I often follow up with a saltine cracker and smile. 

In reflection, perhaps it is the salt of the earth that helps us to endure.