things I know about knees

Elephants are the only animals with four knees.
There is no single-word name for the back of a person's knee.
Babies are born without knee caps. Instead they have a little series of platelets that eventually ossify into the patella by the second or third year.
I have crepitus, which is that crackly noise my right knee makes when I do squats or lunges. Crepitus is just a symptom. My kneecap doesn't ride smoothly over the groove for it in my femur, hence the popping and crackling. Crepitus is also the Roman god of flatulence.
Those are my knees up there. See that raised scar on my right knee? That scar originated when I tripped over home plate in my attempt to run to first base during a game of softball in 8th grade PE. Twenty-three years later, I plowed open that scar when I fell while jogging near a major foothills intersection. I actually rolled head over heels downhill and not a single person stopped to help me. They all just drove on by, so I tottered home with blood running down my shin. That tumble added a whole new dimension to my knee scar. At the preschool, wicked teacher that I am, I tell all the kids that my scar is actually a chrysalis, and one of these days a butterfly will emerge. At least once a week, while I'm sitting on the floor with them, one of the kids will rub that scar with little fingers and ask, "When will the butterfly come?"

Comments

auntie m said…

Are you sure these are your knees? I think they might be my knees.

7:04 PM

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