But I'm still a spring chicken!

I've been trying to duck it for a couple of years now, but it doesn't look like there's any way around it. I met with a surgeon today, and after reviewing MRI and CT studies, he recommends a laproscopic procedure to clean up bone spurs on my right hip and (we hope) a little tidying of the labrum.

The weirdest thing is I don't know how I did it. A few years ago, we owned a house on an acre-sized lot, and toward the end of push-mowing sessions, that hip seemed to become really tired. The worst incident was after—not during!—a street hockey game where I suddenly couldn't walk and had to use my stick as a cane. You'd think there'd be some nasty collision or fall or something to pin this on, but it really seemed to come out of the blue.

That's been a couple of years ago. Back then, I didn't know I had a likely tear and hoped that I could work through the condition. In my defense, the pain was only in certain positions, and I walk limp-free. Deep squats at the gym hurt, and I hope I didn't do additional damage trying to tough it out.

So I'm facing four to six weeks on crutches and several months of rehab. It's tough getting old.