Thursday, 9/5

Sometimes it's good to be boring.

I had my annual checkup a couple of days ago, and it culminated with my doctor saying what he says every year--”You're medically boring”. It's become kind of a running joke; in fact, each year, he even types it into my file. And as someone who's tried to defy being boring my entire life—in fact, in college, I spent several years with a button that said “Why be normal?”--I think that, at least in this instance, I really don't mind being boring.

Really, I don't.

I'm an incredibly lucky person, and I'll be the first to admit it. I've never had a serious medical issue in my life. Aside from hay fever and the occasional klutzy move on my part, I've never even had to see a doctor outside of these annual check-ups. I don't know if it's genetics, the fact that I exercise and try to eat well, that fact that I don't smoke and I rarely drink, or just blind luck, but my health is something that I only think about on days like today.

And for that, I'm grateful.

Another running joke used to be the fact that I'm in “great shape for someone my age”,but as it turns out, I'm actually in pretty good shape for someone at any age. It's funny; I see people who I know are around the same age as me, and oftentimes I'll see they have problems moving around, or other health issues, or have actually died of some horrid disease. And here I am, jumping around like I did twenty five years ago. Heck, I actually think I'm in BETTER shape than I was twenty five years ago, if only because I don't have Pop Tarts & Dr. Pepper for breakfast every morning, and I now know how to properly prepare myself for all of that jumping around, thereby not injuring myself quite as often as I used to.

Who knew I'd end up like this? I guess being a skinny, nonathletic geek when young gives you nowhere to go but up.

Like I said, I feel so lucky that I'm “boring”. I'll take it every day of the week, especially when the other choice is being “medically interesting”. I see too many examples of that every day. I'm sure my doctor does, too, which is why he keeps pointing out just how unusual I am. And in typing that sentence, it just occurred to me—by being “boring” I'm actually living up to the credo “Why be normal?” After all, without all those medical issues staring me in the face, I'm (thankfully) not like everyone else. So when you think about it, in one fell swoop I'm making both my doctor happy and I'm living up to one of my goals in life. You can't say that happens every day.

So I'm boring, at least in this one instance. And while I never hoped I would be in any way boring , I think this is one instance that I really don't mind.

(jim@wmqt.com), medically boring.