Flat-Out

There’s a Mellencamp line that pops into my head from time-to-time:

“Sometimes life is just too ridiculous to live.”

Monday felt that way.

The sting, bite, whatever on my hand raised some havoc. I woke up and looked at my paw and it was the size of a catcher’s mitt, and I wanted to gnaw it off due to the itching.

As luck would have it, I was also due for hip injections to ensure that I can stay on my feet for the rest of the summer.

I went for the shot and the doc asked me how I’d been holding up. I showed her my hand.

“Something bit me.”

She laughed but said, “Oh no! Those are worse the older you get.”

So, I got the injections and we talked about inflammation. I have way too much!

Yet, by 10 A.M. I had the medicine working in my hip, is taken a Benadryl and now had a steroid packet  to work through.

“Too ridiculous.”

I got drowsy.

My back was on fire to match my hand. The injection site was throbbing.

I gathered up Melky and on a beautiful day, I laid in my bed.

I answered the phone for a number of work related calls, and never let on about how badly I was dealing, and then I thought of K.T.

K.T. was a man nearing retirement age. He was still being paid as a union laborer, but his physical skills had slipped.

Yet, he was simply an amazing employee for us on a huge job in Lockport.

No matter the task, K.T. Could handle it!

Yet, every time I called him I’d ask:

“K.T. are you busy?”

“I’m flat-out,” he’d answer. “Busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”

And he usually was, but he’d make more time.

“How are you?” Kathy asked, via text on her break.

“Flat-out,” I answered.

K.T. passed away recently. He was a good guy and a man who worked so hard. I hadn’t seen him in years, but he’d drifted to retirement with his wife, who he always called his bride.

“How are you buddy?” I asked in that last phone call.

“My bride has me flat-out,” he said.

I smiled.

This is a different sort of flat-out, but it made me think of K.T., and while life seems ridiculous at times...

...it carries great memories!

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