Earlier today I spoke with my brother by accident, stationed at my sister’s house for spring break. He was building a boat in the backyard. What kind of boat? I asked. “A row boat.” he answered, for his upcoming wedding. Somehow the ceremony will take place on an island, and all to bear witness will cross water to do so.

He’s enlisted me as one of the rowers and I’ll row, but rowing is difficult because my right shoulder is double jointed. Meaning I can easily dislocate my upper arm (humerus) from its socket (the scapula). If my arms are held straight above my head, hands clasped at the top, I can rotate one-hundred and eighty degrees backward, so that my elbows touch the middle of my back. Wow! Having this flexibility since I was a kid, my left shoulder, although it doesn’t come out of its socket, is practiced enough to go along with the right.

What this means is that due to a lack of tension, it’s nearly impossible for me to beat anyone in arm wrestling with my right arm. I used to think it was some kind of psychological failure, when in fact, there’s nothing to be done about it. This transfers into rowing, or any kind of upper body oriented activity, where this surplus flexibility makes it difficult to focus torque in a constant direction. I’m totally lost.