Can You Get Injured Fighting the Inevitable?

They say it happens to every woman, but I refused to believe it. I swore that it would never happen to me. I would stand against the forces that be, and not become my mother.

I lied. Apparently, there is nothing you can do to stop this rite of passage from happening.

About a month ago I fell and injured my shoulder. *ding* Only old people get injured when they fall down. I remember thinking that old people are so fragile - there was no way I would become that because I was a teenager/twenty something. (Don't even get all over me for thinking that my parents were old. What teenager doesn't think that?) (And don't ask about the events leading up to the fall - that's a long story that you really would find amusing but I won't be telling. Just know that black ponies at 2 AM are nobody's friend.)

Said shoulder that I injured a month ago hurt like the dickens, but has since abated to a slow, dull ache. I miss the outright pain. I have discovered Aleve, and discovered that sometimes Aleve doesn't work. Neither does Advil. I lay awake from the dull ache throbbing from my shoulder a lot of nights. *ding* My mother complains of things like this frequently. Old people get injuries that keep them awake at night.

While laying awake last night, in so much pain that I could barely move my arm, willing the pain to go away and sleep to come, the thought occurred to me that I can't even take pain pills to help at that hour. Taking pills on an empty stomach, or between the hours of midnight and pre-breakfast makes me feel as though I have an ulcer. *ding* My mother has complained of such things for years. Old people have ailments like "Advil upsets my stomach."

Because of my lack of sleep during sleeping hours, I have the overwhelming desire to nap while the boys are in school. I have not stooped to this yet, mostly because it would be the last straw. My mother can be caught napping on her sofa at any hour of the day, mostly because she doesn't sleep well at night. I am fighting this one tooth and nail.

I am already predicting that I'll be chipping a tooth in the fight. My mom did that once; chipped a tooth.

And to clarify, I'm way less concerned with turning into my mother as I am becoming my mother's age. I can't be old. I'm only 39.