When you have arthritis, you are constantly reminded of your limitations—by your doctor, your family, your friends and, of course, by your own body. And it’s true; we do have to protect our joints. But being too careful can take the zest out of living; never challenging yourself is not living at all. That’s why sometimes you have to break the rules just to feel alive…

To say that I am not photogenic is a kindness—in most pictures, I look as if I’m about to bite the photographer and I’m  real happy about it. But there is one picture that I’m very proud of: I’m lying on a boogie board after just barely surviving a huge (by East coast standards) wave and I’m grinning like hell. If I still had the picture, I’d post it, but I gave it to my rheumatologist. As usual, he shook his head in despair.
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