Slow Hare?

Both Kearney and I were a little under the weather this weekend, so our hoped-for status roundup didn’t get completed. We’ll still do it, just not exactly on today's two-month anniversary of the surgery. (September 10-November 10) This is good news, because it shows that we’ve absorbed one of the lessons of this experience thoroughly: if the energy isn’t there, don’t push it. It wasn’t, and we didn’t. In the meantime, the short version of the recovery roundup: remarkable progress and the end not yet in sight.

During my hair cut this weekend, Richard suggested that maybe I’m better at being a slow hare than I am at being a tortoise. That’s worth thinking about. Maybe that is a more realistic goal for me? Trying this idea out on a few people, most offered caution that a slow hare could easily accelerate almost without noticing and end up overdoing. This is also worth thinking about. As should be clear, the truth is that this extended recovery time is getting old, and there still isn’t any choice about it. This means that every day takes some deep breaths and re-orientation to appreciate all that’s truly wonderful and to pick a mood that makes more sense given events and timing. On the plus-slide of the ledger, visits from some out-of-town (and in-town) friends brightened the weekend.

Watching “House” with Shea, we found that season five includes both a craniotomy (graphic images—how do they do that, anyway?—of scalp being peeled back and circle of skull cut out) and the death of his father. Maybe I’ve actually been in a TV series all this time and haven’t known it? That would go a long way to explaining some of the truly improbable events of the past few months. On the other hand, you cannot make some of this stuff up, so it’s sadly more likely that this is just reality. Parts of reality can be overrated, in my experience, but again, here’s an area we don’t get to choose, so finding what there is to appreciate and going with that is our overall game plan. The one thing that’s never hard to appreciate is all the support you’ve given each of us throughout this adventure.

Thank you.