And a Lovely Evening to You, Too!

Surprisingly, I woke up not feeling any worse than any other morning. A good sign to start out with.

Then I spent much of the day trying to clean and as the day went on my back got worse and worse.

However, I didn't want to quit after just one workout, so I went to the gym. This time, I started on the treadmill but had to get off after 15 minutes. I'm not sure I even worked hard enough to raise my heart rate above "comatose" but my back hurt so much I had to hang on (with a deathgrip) to the supports to step down off of it.

I staggered into the locker room and changed into my swimsuit, then went and sat in the jacuzzi and did some stretching. After awhile, I felt good enough to leave, so I decided I'd swim instead.

Good news: I did a half mile in about 22 minutes. Bad news: they're going to need a buoy every 25 meters that I can hang on to and then push off of to get going again.

Then I sat in the hot tub some more. There was a older guy there with his daughters. We started talking and it turns out his family just moved here a couple of months ago--Iraqi refugees that had been hiding in Syria for four years.

Puts things in perspective when you meet people with far larger problems than your own.

It's a good thing though that I've had some experience with Arab culture and things that are apparently appropriate to say for them but not so much for us. Otherwise, I probably would have left a less-than-polite impression of the locals when he said to me, "You are very much like my wife." (Pause.) "A little bit fat, but still beautiful."

Fortunately, since I've heard worse from my in-laws, I was able to smile and nod. And reinforce that despite how much this hurts, I probably need to keep going anyway.