Walkway in Denver Botanic Gardens
Every once in a while a reality check drops into my life. I've been keeping an unbelievable pace lately. Just a week after enjoying two weeks of delightful houseguests and touring Colorado's wonderful areas of interest, we left for Wisconsin to meet our new grandson and spend some quality time with his three-year old big brother. While there we drove to Door County one of Wisconsin's special places. We walked in airports, walked in parks, walked along Sturgeon Bay, climbed towers, scouted out a light house and finally walked the streets of Fish Creek before having lunch in a pictoresque restaurant there.
We returned home and I decided it was time to return to walking 30 minutes minimum four times a week in preparation for our trip to Chile in just over two weeks. Last Friday morning I walked out 15 minutes in the neighborhood and turned around. On the way back I began to feel pain in a muscle just behind my knee. I slowed my walking but the pain persisted until finally I could no longer put weight on my leg. I persuaded a neighbor to drive me home. My husband took me to the doctor and three hours later I was sent home with crutches, a prescription for megadoses of Naproxen and a cortisone shot directly into the knee. The entire weekend was spent with my knee elevated and iced.
Once again I was faced with , as my family always called it, "an obsession with self-sufficiency." It has always been difficult for me to ask for help. And so it was last week when I had to ask for everything to be carried to my side. Luckily I was only the captive of bed and crutches for three days before I could gingerly support weight on my leg again. I have, however, now begun to write in my journal and think more about why I resist vulnerability and an admission that I need people. A dear friend used to say to me, "If you don't say ouch, we can't bring the bandaids." Intellectually I know it's true but emotionally it is still difficult for me to need people.
Posted by: Dale | November 21, 2004 at 08:52 PM
Posted by: Fran | October 21, 2004 at 05:33 PM