For the longest time I have had trouble climbing stairs. Not necessarily very obvious trouble, but here's what happens:  at any moment during a step upwards, my knee(s) will give way. With excruciating pain that blurs the world around me (temporarily) and renders me either on all fours or biting my tongue. Or both. For some reason it happens most frequently when I'm a) in a rush b) getting off a subway and c) all of the above. So irritating!

The most annoying part of this packaged gift of arthritic knees is how unpredictable they can be. Literally at any given moment whilst walking up stairs, "it" can hit. Not always. Sometimes not ever. But when I least expect it I am made (painfully) aware that this is the case.

So this morning, as I went upstairs from the subway, I looked up at a towering set of stairs (someone asked "where do these stairs go?" and I had the chance to say "they go up") I quietly reminded myself to take it easy and gently make my way onward.

I just wasn't in the mood to land chin-first into the stairs.