Thumbing It

In the last few weeks I've been asked the same two questions many, many times. The first is, "Did you have carpal tunnel surgery?" They seems to be the popular surgery of this decade. Now I don't want to downplay that surgery, since all surgery is serious, but mine was much more involved than that and I now am into the fourth week with a cast, with many more weeks yet to go. The second question is, "How did you injure your thumb joint?" To that I am somewhat embarrassed to answer that I really don't know but it most have happened quite a while ago. Now I am deciding that maybe I need to have another answer, so I am considering saying that it is an old college injury. I injured it by doing too much "thumbing it" or hitchhiking. Yes, I did a considerable amount of hitchhiking back in the days when it was safe. I started early in high school when I traveled between Lititz and Allentown (Mizpah Grove). The biggest challenge was getting through Reading, but usually the destination signs I carried enabled me to get rides through there. Only once, on a trip back to Lititz ,did I get stuck and I reluctantly had to call home. I wasn't ready to walk through Reading with my suitcase. I did get to the bus station only to realize that there weren't any connections available to Lancaster. My dad did make the trip to pick me up, but he wasn't too happy with me. Most of my hitchhiking came during my first few years at college, between Selinsgrove and Lititz. The main problem there was getting through Harrisburg. Many times I had to walk across the bridge over the Susquehanna River, to Steelton – I guess I was in better shape then. I seldom had much difficulty getting rides. It was a different time then and businessmen readily picked up hikers. I met some very nice folks and had some interesting conversations. The only time I ever had a potential problem was when a truckload of folks who looked liked gypsies wanted to let me ride in the back of their truck with several of them. I politely told them that they weren't going far enough my way and refused their offer. Thank the Lord they accepted my decision. I still wonder why my parents allowed me to do this, but as I said, it was an accepted safer practice then. And maybe they were glad that I would get home so often. I often wonder how many miles my thumb secured my transportation. And maybe that is the secret to how my thumb became disjointed. Well at least it makes a better story than just saying that I don't know. Then, again, maybe it was just during one of those senior moments.