If you are fifty something or older, you recognize that phrase. It was the go to birthday party game, ice skate or roller skate game that was played in the 1950-60's. It is our Chicken Dance, Hokey Pokey, Macarena---it was just what you did at social gatherings, that and Pin the tail on the Donkey--and the more risque--Spin the Bottle when were teenagers. The game was fairly simple---based on a Caribbean game---there was a long stick, with either two adults holding up either side or a pair of game post with notches that started at about 3-1/2 feet above the ground, going all the way down to a foot (or less) of the floor. At the 3-1/2 foot height, everyone could limbo (get under the stick without touching it or knocking it off) under, each turn the stick was dropped another 6 inches, by the end of the game only the slightest of framed (read:all elbows and knees) or most limber (read: the rink rat on skates that could roll or glide under stick with one leg extended) would be left. I had no love for this game, I knew with certainty that I would be out fairly soon after the first drop of the stick---my body didn't bend that way, and my skating skills were just above beginner status--being able to go backwards was my biggest trick. After knocking the stick off, I would then be sitting there for the duration watching the others take their turns, cheering them along, and watching while they ultimately won the prize. Well, 50 or so years later, I still don't like the game. I hate being in limbo, yet that is what this year has felt like so far. Sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else go under the limbo pole.
A couple of fellow travelers on the road have shared that you will lose a year of your life (and your hair) while you are battling/having treatment/ doing the cancer thing. Yeah, it is like that but it is more than losing---it is a state of limbo...sitting on the sidelines, waiting, watching, but not able to take part. Since nothing is certain when it comes to your chemo/radiation treatments(including how long each appointment is, when it is and with MDA--- where it is)---you can make some plans, but are never sure whether you will be able to follow through. You can say "yes" to social commitments, but you don't know until you are ready to walk out the door if you will be able to make it. When you get there, you realize that people really don't want to know all about what is going on in Medi Life (and our family could so over share at this point)---because, I am dealing with what a lot of people fear most--cancer. Sideline-limbo... There are plenty of things that I could do around the house--- planning our next travel adventure, my photo projects, a couple of writing projects (nah, not a novel, more of a family tree thing), ancestry.com, read a book, clean out and organize a couple of things that have begged attention for sometime---but I find it hard to get started. This is the close as you are going to get me to a pity party--a limbo party... I am goal oriented, so the land of limbo is so hard for me. Truth be known, I think I have a little more male hard wiring than female --must be why my estrogen went rogue--- lack of anything to do. I am a problem solver, not a sideline sitter. However, unlike most of the male species, I have a hard time with the "nothing box" and am more globally wired, so I will be doing lunch with ladies the next two weeks, and babysitting Eli and Cali....take that you stupid limbo stick. (Your laughter homework of the day is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjnLLw5BTmc--remember laughter is the best medicine! Since it seems to take a lot of medicine for me of late, I did several courses, it explained a lot---it is this generations version of Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus---)...take two and call me for lunch....
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