Stiff & Achy

Good morning Complaint Department,

Today my muscles are stiff and all of my joints ache.

Also, my coffee is cold, but my cup is not microwave safe.

Hello stiff and sore,

I know too how everything can ache. I know how pain awakes every so slightly before we do and we are ushered into the world each day, cranky with aches and pains. The achy joint is like the squeaky wheel—it persists and remains and beats like a heartbeat to remind you: you are body. You are body. You are animal. You are animal. You are mortal. You are mortal.

It’s all awful. Glorious too, here and there, of course. But when the coffee is cold and when the muscles are stiff and there is no heat to come by, the only salvation is your own movement. Be it weeping. Be it an awkward and clumsy dance. Be it hunching over. Be it yelling and thrashing. Movement brings in new light and life. It won’t heat the coffee, but it will remind you—like the achy joints—that indeed you are alive and are a living, moving, breathing animal upon this world for awhile.

—with warm for your coffee and balm for your aches,

The Complaint Department