I was out standing on a porch overlooking what is a palace’s back yard to give my achy hamstrings a massage on the sturdy, cast iron chairs circling the matching table around which we usually enjoy supper. The evening was lovely and no way! There are fireflies. Seriously the last time I can with confidence recall seeing fireflies is in 1996 at the George School. When is the last time you guys have seen them?

I love the therapy I get from standing alongside a chair with one leg over its back. This was actually a favorite stance at work and the conference room chairs were perfect. Now where did that come from? The scrolls of ancient wisdom found in the deepest level of Zeke’s library suggest it arose as a derivation from a visit with Kelly Starrett of the Mobility WOD fame. (How times have changed; back then the website had a free, daily video of something useful.) This was when I was, for all practical purposes, clueless as to why I ached and in the middle of too many years consisting of either decline or stagnation. He strongly suggested I get a desk which went up and down so I wasn’t constrained to a chair.

At first, standing for any remotely measurable amount of time was exhausting and could quickly become painful. Always I’d see his laughing face repeating the same, powerful response. My only option was to turn my attention to how I stood (rather than grueling it out). This focus on the mechanics was a paradigm shift and precipitated years of self learning and improving. As if the lost pages to my body manual were found.

Kelly also had me do a something that I couldn’t. I honestly said, “I don’t know how to do what you are asking.” “I can see that,” he said with a chuckle. To say it another way, I couldn’t depend on maximum effort carrying me through. Instead, I had to figure out how to position, move and brace myself. I had to become a different person.

I saw and rode in what may be The Bus! It sure looks awesome: solid, clean, powerful and huge. Really it is almost too big. There is some rust underneath and a bit of shimmying when braking. I’ll go to a body shop tomorrow and get their opinion on the rust and the brake issue is probably rotors which my senior councilor Azzan said is hardly a show stopper. The truth is I texted Azzan a bunch of times today and am again grateful for his advice and availability.

Endless buses at Midwest Transit. There are several such aisles in this lot alone. The cone has a 3 digit number which represents the aisle. Then you use a second number to find the desired bus.