All day long I kept telling myself, “This isn’t as bad as last time.” And then a twinge of pain would sear through my neck and upper back, and I’d say, “This is really bad. Who am I kidding?”

Well, I was trying to kid myself, talk myself out of being immobilized by the pain. I had things to do. The payroll wouldn’t wait for me to get over a stiff neck. I remembered the last time, and I knew it would pass, because it did then. I tried to put it in perspective, and I think that helped, even though at times it did seem worse this time.

As before, I don’t know what caused it. I don’t know if I did something wrong, or if something inside me keeps trying to get out, and succeeds every so often. Every few weeks, is all, so it’s not as if I’m in constant pain. If it’s the same, then it will pass as it did before, within a day or two. If it’s something else, most likely it will still pass.

It did make my job a little harder. I found myself writing checks without turning my head, which meant that some very important parts (such as the amount, and my signature) were just outside my peripheral vision. I hope the numbers and letters didn’t come out as blurred as the looked to me while I was writing them.