The Day My Knees Filed a Complaint with HR
and we don't want our knees going over our head, do we?
It happened around 5 p.m., which feels like the universal time for the body to stage a protest.
I bent down to pick up something I dropped (a pen, which my knees clearly thought wasn’t worth the risk), and I heard a crack so loud it sounded like a tree spirit snapping a branch in anger. This was more than the snap, crackle, and pop that provides the Rice Krispies soundtrack for my knee activity.
Then — the pain.
Not enough to kill me. Just enough to deflate my afternoon a bit. It was going to be an Aleve kinda day.
I swear I heard my knees say:
“Ma’am, we are filing a formal complaint. You have used us without proper gratitude for over sixty years. We require compensation.”
Fine.
Fair.
“Otherwise, we are going to take an early retirement.”
Because here’s what I realized, sitting on the edge of my bed, massaging knees that sounded like pecans being cracked:
My knees aren’t failing me.
They’re reminding me.
Reminding me that:
my body has limits — and those are increasing with every year, it seems
limits aren’t failures, they are sign posts and sometimes they say, “Stop or we’re going to hurt you.”
rest isn’t laziness — it is necessary
aches are communication - we just don’t like what they are saying
and aging is not a punishment — it’s a privilege that many do not get to have, much less enjoy
My younger self treated her body like a rental car: drive it hard, return it scratched, never check the tire pressure, and let the oil run dry. As Eric says, “Drive it like you stole it.”
My current self?
I need to start treating her her like the classic she is:
✨ still running (as in still “functioning,” not “jogging” for godsake, are you high?)
✨ still beautiful in her way
✨ a little creaky (and occasionally cranky too)
✨ still gets me where I need to be (just maybe not as fast)
✨ deserves better maintenance than I used to give (or still provide most of the time)
So yes, my knees have HR complaints and they did manage to get their job description modified with their complaint.
They’re still also holding me up and honestly, that feels like devotion.
Also, please don’t anyone let the hips and lower back know that the knees got away with this bullshit or they will be the next to go all Norma Rae on me.
Also, PS, the Body of a Goddess blog now posts on Wednesday.