Sisterhood of the Traveling Boot

Four girlfriends and I left North Dakota on a cold morning in January. I believe the temperature, with windchill, was -20. Our destination was sunny Florida. This long-awaited trip was planned by our good friend, Deb, as a birthday celebration, or perhaps I should say birthweek celebration. The only fly in the ointment was my boot. Because I was wearing it, we had to think through every step. It meant hoisting me into vans and cramming into backseats. It meant warning waiters and grabbing me before I fell. It even meant helping me into the shower (thank you Barb). Because we had to accommodate the boot every place we went, it took on a life of its own. Like at the beach. A scooter just doesn't work in the sand. So what did my friends do? They paid a couple of guys to carry me:

Debi, Michele and Deb...and the boot

There were other adventures as well, so allow me to share what my boot did on our winter vacation:

At Sea Life Aquarium

At Manny's for a birthday celebration (see the boot taking center stage?)

Lounging by the pool

Visiting with Abe at the Wax Museum

In the jaws of a gator

Riding high on the Orlando Eye 

Conducting business poolside

Waiting for breakfast

Greeting the gecko

Overcoming our fear of heights

Kicking back at the White House

Kicking it up with the Blue Brothers

The boot may have been a drag, but in the end it added to the fun. And because of it, and because of new and old friendships, this is one vacation I'll never forget. It gave a whole new meaning to "booting up."

Always Trust Your Cape

I saw this quote the other day: "What defines us is how well we rise after falling." I can relate to this. Since I've been on my scooter I have fallen over about a half a dozen times. Picture this: me, realizing I'm about the lose my balance, then hop-hop-hopping in an effort not to put my foot down.
I trust my balance to be there, as it always has been. Prior to wearing my boot I could close my eyes and stand on one foot for a minute at a time. The extra few pounds on one side seems to have thrown it all off. The 18 inches of snow on the ground has not helped, nor has the extreme cold or the fact that I live in a house with stairs at every turn, but still, no big thing.

Today was my third follow-up appointment, the day when I was to have the pins removed, lose the scooter and begin to use my foot. Alas,  today there will be no "cast off" party. For a moment I lapsed into a pity party instead, when the doctor told me there was a break where healing was supposed to be. Clearly, during one of those balance challenges I put a little too much pressure on my repaired foot. So, it's two more weeks on the scooter.

Mary Chapin Carpenter sings a song that talks about being fearless. Here's the chorus:

He's one of those who knows that life
Is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape

It seems I'm trusting my cape a little too much right now, so for the next two weeks I'll be good, and I'll sit quietly and I'll allow my foot to heal. But in every other way...I'm going to do my best to rise well after falling. 

Songs From the Alley

My son and his wife live right in the middle of one of America's biggest cities, and it's a place I love to visit. Because it's downtown, their apartment is in an old building that is surrounded by the colorful; people who live on the streets or who live in various nearby shelters. At night, especially if you sleep with the windows open, you can hear the sounds of the alley two floors down. It's always fascinating to me.

There is the homeless man who lives on a cardboard island. During my last visit in the early fall, he rarely left his spot, but held court for those who wandered by. I admit to spying on him as he negotiated for the day's necessities. He would hand his cash over, some sort of deal was made, and the passerby would wander off to return an hour later, his pockets stuffed with sandwiches or fruit or milk - once a Starbucks coffee. My son told me that the individuals making the deals live a few doors down in a home for people who, for various reasons, can't live on their own. Their needs are met at the home, but the one thing they can't get there is cigarettes. Hence, the back-alley dealing.

Another couple entered the alley every morning at 4 a.m. like clockwork, to rummage through the dumpsters while bickering bitterly. They must have been devoted to each other because they were always together, but they didn't seem to like each other much.

Then there was the fellow they called The Puker. He was a man with apparent lung disease, one of the dealers for smokes, who, after he enjoyed his tobacco (or whatever), would follow it by hacking up a lung. It was loud and painful to hear. One night I awoke in the wee hours to that sound, followed by the voice of my son calling to The Puker from the window in the next room. "Hey, Dude! You can't do that here." Silence. Cough, cough, hack. Then, "I can still see you!" Silence. More hacking. Then, "Dude, I can still see you behind that dumpster!"

My son and his wife take it all in stride. It's all part of living downtown and they've made their peace with the inhabitants of their neighborhood. Last night, a new message appeared on my phone:
"Good news! The alley now has a piano for all passersby to bang on." I suspect it won't be there long, but he says it's amazing how all who walk through are compelled to try their hand. The melody of street life during a big city winter.

Good Days Ahead!

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

Peace to All Who Enter Here

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

I once had the privilege of hearing the Dalai Lama speak, and what struck me about him most of all was his humility. Can you imagine him sending a mean tweet or an angry Facebook message? Would he lean on his horn in a traffic jam or flip somebody off in a parking lot? Is it his kindness that brings him peace?

In this line of work, we receive many comments on what we do, what we say and how we look. Many of them are kind and heartwarming and really lift the spirits. Others...not so much. My friend Renita reminded me today that hurt people are the ones who hurt other people. So, to all of you who are having a really bad day, I am sending positive vibes and a virtual hug. Peace.

Week Three of the Great Foot Fix

Last night I went to the company Christmas party. Normally one stands around at these things, glass in hand, mingling, but I'm scooter-bound and that made me a roadblock in a narrow room, so I chose to sit, with my leg elevated on the seat of the scooter. Which also made me a roadblock in a narrow room. People are just not meant to be shaped like a T-square.

Back home, I took a painkiller and got on the computer. I hadn't realized before last night how goofy those things make me. A friend shared with me a YouTube clip of a blooper that featured Kevin Stanfield and me (see it here if it interests you, but be aware that it's about three minutes in and you may have to pass by some stuff that's mildly objectionable first  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=604D5GvnnT4) and it struck me as so funny that I decided to share it with a few family members. What I did instead, was message it to a whole bunch of people. I am not even sure how I did it. I immediately got a message back from a friend who said she thought my Facebook page had been hacked.  I think I'm ready to graduate to Tylenol, if only to save my friends from  the fuzzy texts.

But that brings me to my point. You simply don't realize how challenging life is for people who are mobility impaired until it happens to you. Here is a list of things I never knew:

1. If I CAN drop a thing on the floor, I will.
2. If, after I drop it, it CAN roll under furniture, into tiny corners or behind the toilet, it will.
3. Putting your pants on while standing on just one leg is not possible. Scooting into them while seated on the bed is undignified.
4. Vehicles on wheels roll, and sometimes role out from under you.
5. If I set my phone down and roll away from it, it will ALWAYS ring. Three rings are not enough time to get to it. And if I'm in a hurry to answer it before it goes to voicemail, the phone will not recognize my thumbprint, nor will I remember my unlocking code.
6. I am not much of a dancer, but I've developed a beautiful one-legged pirouette.
7. And perhaps the most surprising of all, I find I am not good at sitting still and reading a book for more than, say, ten minutes. So those days when I dream of a vacation where I do nothing but sit on a beach with a novel? Probably not the vacation for me.

I've also learned that I have wonderful friends and family who are always there to step up and help, and to make me smile and feel loved. That is perhaps the most valuable lesson of all.

Heavy Lifting and Marriage

Last night I spent a couple of hours by myself for the first time since my foot surgery a little more than a week ago while Cliff went to watch a hockey game. I figured I had things under control. I sat for an hour watching Netflix, but then realized it was past supper time and I was hungry. So I rolled myself into the kitchen to rustle something up.

My house is historic and has many distinctive and charming features -- another way to read that is "old, with uneven floor heights, lots of stairs, more doorways than necessary and tight spaces." It doesn't have that "open concept" one hears so much about these days. It's something of a challenge and in all of the back and forth I tend to run over the toes on my good foot. I did that a couple of times.

Then I found some leftover chili in the fridge, but had trouble getting a bowl down from the cupboard because I couldn't maneuver the scooter close enough to reach it easily, and the cupboard door swings the wrong way. But I worked that out. I put my chili on the stove to open the microwave, and the top panel on the microwave fell off (why it happened at that moment I have no idea -- probably a test), knocking my bowl of chili onto the floor, splattering my legs, my scooter, the cupboards, etc. I wheeled away from that mess and reached for the paper towels and somehow managed to also knock them onto the floor. I could reach down far enough to retrieve the bowl, the paper towels and the spoon, but I couldn't quite reach the spilled food. That wasn't a big problem because while my back was turned the dogs swooped in and before I could stop them, did a pretty good job of mopping things up. I suspect I will pay for that later.

But you know who will really pay? Cliff, because he's going to have a hard time leaving my side again for the next month. "For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health," and in foot surgery.