#synvisc

So what if I’m sitting in a thatched shangri-la on a beach in the Dominican Republic. My heart is still just east of Wauseon, Ohio. That's where I ended the 2012 part of my cross-country hike. One month from yesterday, I’ll be back on the road, paying homage to slow travel, and the fast passage of the four score or so years we’re each allotted on our planet.

In the course of this journey within a journey, I’m hoping to get a handle on how I can best use my remaining years.. At 66, even though I’m young by some measures (my mother’s, for instance), by most I’m at the cusp of old age. The other day there was a headline in our local paper containing the words, Elderly Woman. Was she 92? Was she 85? No, she was 67. SIXTY-SEVEN!! ELDERLY!  And here am I, in my 67th year. Yikes!

This year, my husband Lincoln and I will, begin our trek west on March 3, We’ll pack, and slink away hoping to convince Opie and Beaune, our two Labs that we’re just going to town for an errand. We’ll drive three hours to New York City, where I’ll join the Boston Symphony Orchestra board for one of my last meetings as a Trustee. In the evening we’ll hear some sublime music from good seats in Carnegie Hall. The next morning, it will be westward-ho.

This winter, the honest truth is that my knees have been giving me trouble. Knees are funny things. They don’t feel the same everyday. When I wake up and start moving around, it’s a whole new story each morning. However, it’s likely my right knee, especially, will be a pesky sidekick this year as I start walking. At least until the Synvisc shot kicks in toward the end of April.