You Got My Back?

What is the true sign of adulthood? Is it the decision to settle down and marry, sharing your life and all the good and bad that is to come with another person? Is it the decision - whether conscious or not - to conceive, gestate, and raise another human being? Or is it something else entirely. Something that happens to nearly every person at some point in their life. It may happen earlier for some but later for others. It happened to my father nearly two decades ago - and to my brother just last year. Maybe it has happened to you. And if it hasn't, it probably will.

What rite of passage to adulthood am I prattling on about?

Yesterday, I hurt my back.

Sometime yesterday morning, while readying the nursery for the delivery of the crib (which remains in pieces), I wrenched my back. And, man, does it suck. The two ironies of this situation, of course, are that I can hardly pinpoint how it happened - there was no heavy lifting involved; Not to mention that I am, or at least was this week, in probably the best shape I have ever been in. And now I have a spine that goes left.

After suffering (i.e. whining like a baby) yesterday, I feel slightly better today, but still hobble around like Quasimodo on occasion. I have never looked forward to the week beginning, so I can call a chiropractor.

Walking with my wife last night, we made quite the sight - her full belly and my stunted gait, together making our bid for the Olympic synchronized lurching team.

I was prepared to write about how, physically, this brings me closer to my wife's state. I can lay and I can stand, but getting between the two is problematic. But our ranges of mobility still aren't close.

Still, despite the inconvenience and the whining, I feel like more of an adult than I did the day before. I feel like I've crossed some unspoken threshold, shedding the last fleeting notions of an immortal youth. I'm more of a man than I was yesterday. A man with a spine that takes a hard left turn just above his waist.