Shoulder Report and the Red Hat Party

I went back to the orthopedic doctor for my six-weeks-out-from-surgery checkup. He was pleased that I didn’t need or use any of the pain pills he prescribed and that my range of motion is almost to where it should be. I have a level two pain in my upper arm when I raise it out straight but he thinks that’s because of the arthritis and bone spur that was removed on the ball of my shoulder joint rather than from the labrum tear repair. I guess all the nerve ends from that part of my arm go through the area that was “sanded” smooth---I don’t know the medical term for that, but I’m sure there is one. He gave me a shot to soothe the nerves and if the pain comes back in a few months then he can shoot some jell-like stuff in there for a longer term solution. I have to go back in six weeks. In the meantime, no snow shoveling, picking up heavy stuff or bench pressing (like that’s was going to happen) but I can do anything else. He doesn’t think I’ll need therapy either but if I don’t continue to make progress on my range of motion, all I have to do is call and he’ll order it for me. I’m a happy camper. My niece’s daughter-in-law, who had the same labrum tear surgery on the same day, was leaving the doctor’s office just as I was coming in and she didn’t fare as well as I did. She’s got a frozen shoulder and has to have another procedure on Monday followed by daily physical therapy for a couple of weeks. Color me boastful but it feels good to do ‘recovery’ better than a person four decades younger than me.

This weekend, the gods of snow and ice were still on vacation so Saturday I hopped in my Malibu to go to a Red Hat Society Christmas party. I was excited about playing dress up with my friends and having a good meal at a cozy country restaurant with a huge stone fireplace. Technically, I didn’t look ‘Red Hat’ enough. I had no purple on and just one bracelet and ring. I wore (for the first time in years) a classic red sweater set that is piped with black, very expensive in its day. After my recent weight loss it fits perfectly again and who doesn’t feel kick-ass good in anything with built-in shoulder pads? I love that sweater set! It also matched my most elegant red felt hat. I threw a black crepe, fringed scarf around my neck, just to “tacky up” my look and keep my neck warmer at the same time. (I didn’t want to look too classic next to my feather boa wrapped and fully blinged out sisters.) Black pants, red shoes and a black purse with a Red Hat Society motif embroidered on the front completed my outfit. 

I tried to take some pictures at the party to share in this blog but I’m dumber than my smart phone and I ended up with photos of mostly my thumb. I wanted to show you the fur topped elf socks and booties one lady wore and the beautifully beaded red and purple collar that dipped down to our queen’s waist in the back and of course, a couple of photos of blinged-out hats. And how could anyone not smile at a purse that looks like Santa’s belted waist? There were twenty-two of us in attendance and can you believe it, twenty of us actually ordered dessert! I collect recipes for bread pudding (I have about a hundred) so when I saw it on the menu I had to have it. 

One of my very favorite Red Hat sisters has a great sense of humor. She’s ten years my senior and so fun to sit next to that I could eat her up with a spoon and ask for seconds. And she’s about as Tea Party radical as I'm a flaming liberal. She sends out these chain e-mails that are so full of hate for Obama, hate for Democrats, hate for liberals and hate for poor people. A glut of propaganda and misinformation. When I see her in person I just can’t mesh her online personality with her face-to-face personality.

At the party, as I sat listening to the conversations around me, I couldn’t help thinking about how brave (or should I say brazen) many of us are---myself included---about sharing our political views when we don’t have to worry about having a face-to-face confrontation with someone who disagrees with our thoughts. I've always subscribed to the principle that you don't talk about politics, money or religion in public, even though in recent years I’ve often wished I could do exactly that. I was also reminded of something I learned at my father’s knee: How to smoothly guide a conversation back to lighter topics with a well-chosen joke that breaks any tension building in the room. Not that I had to do that at the Red Hat party---well, just one time---but I’ve always been glad that I can list that as one of my skills. Being able to laugh and have a good time with people we fundamentally disagree with is a good thing in a world that seems to be falling apart at the seams. Isn’t it? I don’t know anymore. I'm so confused. ©