I've been meaning to write a blog for the past few weeks. So much happening and so much in my head and on my mind.
A. First, I walked at lunch today, and it didn't hurt at all. Second. I stood up, walked out to the front of the ferry. Stood for 10 minutes and it didn't hurt at all. Third. I walked off the ferry and up the incline of the ramp and nearly registered a twinge of pain in my achillies. I cannot begin to tell you how happy this makes me, and how much the absence of pain causes me joy for the most simple and every day activities. I am not all healed yet. I won't be running, or skating or jumping for a little bit more. But, I may take my dog for a very short walk, and that makes this a very happy day for both of us.
B. Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken (insert married name here) walked today. And if me standing to get of the ferry and it not hurting was a reason to celebrate, surely an Olympic swimmer who severed her spine walking with the aid of a walker some months later is cause for a massive fête. Honestly, I didn't think she would walk again, no way this quickly. Yet, miracles happen, and I'm so happy for her and her family. That would be such a difficult and frustrating thing to deal with and come back from and she's had nothing but a good attitude. Five gold stars to her.
C. That leads me to my next thought #ALSIceBucketChallenge. A year ago someone gave me a tee shirt, for an ALS walk. I didn't know what ALS was, and I was too lazy to look it up, so I gave the shirt to goodwill. Wish I would have kept it now. I'm glad this whole ice bucket thing happened. I have learned a lot about ALS. And watching Pete fretes go from amazing athlete to wheelchair bound and unable to talk, we'll that's even more scary to me than amy van dykens situation. Either one would be incredibly devastating and discouraging if it happened to me personally, I mean, I got depressed with planter faciaitis and achillies tendonitis,. But seriously, how crazy is ALS?
I'm so happy I participated in the bucket challenge, even the videos that didn't mention als have helped spread awareness by creating a meme and a curiosity about what the crud is this thing people are doing? I ignored the first three videos in my fb feed for a week. Then I couldn't resist. I had to figure out why this was a thing, then I had to find out what ALS was, then I had to dump ice water and film it, then I had to donate because I cared, and it meant something, and long after this is over, we'll watch those videos, and we'll care again. Even the haters just generated more talk and perpetuated it. I have to say when I dumped that ice water on my head, it was a shock to the system, and it was cold. But when it was over, I felt a part of something bigger than myself. I felt I had joined something good, and I felt we could actually make a difference. That Feeling Of Unity And Hope Made Me Want To Donate All The more generously, And to conrinue doing so in the future.
D. Speaking of haters, on the ice bucket challenge. I think the timing of Taylor Swift releasing get music video for shake it off, was perfect. "Haters gonna hate, hate hate. And a players gonna play, play, play, but I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake. Shake it off, shake it off. "
E. Robin Williams died. That made me profoundly sad, and I had felt a deep sense of loss. The ice bucket challenge helped me laugh and feel hope. Robin Williams has been a part of my life, with his many inspiring rolls since I was at least 3 years old. We miss him, don't we. I think he would have liked the ice bucket challenge. But I don't know, I didn't actually know him. But I think heaven timed those two things together for a reason.
F. Robin Williams died on the tenth anniversary of the day I entered the missionary training center. I had planned to write a blog post flash back to the MTC that day, then I heard he died, and I couldn't. I was just too sad. I entered the MTC weighing 115lbs. A healthy weight for my height. I left it weighing 105, due to sever stomach flu during part of my stay, and I spent the entire time of my mission trying and failing to gain any weight back. A decade and 35 lbs later, I'm now having the opposite struggle. I'd just like to say, both gaining and losing weight when you need to for health reasons, are equally annoying and frustrating. But weight doesn't matter so much as health does. That's what I've always said, it's what I'll always say. As long as your healthy, who cares what you weigh or what size you are. Now that my foot is getting better quickly, I hope to get in better shape again. I did the best I could to stay healthy, but when all your favorite physical activities become limited or banned temporarily, that's so hard to do. I cannot wait till the day I can run and jump again. I don't think they are far distant. Today, I'm very happy to be able to walk and not hurt.
One last final random thought. Maleria.
I don't know how to spell it, and neither does my spell check apparently. I recently watched a piper perabo film about melaria. Called Martha and mary, I think. Great film. If you can spare $5 to donate for a misquitos net sometime, find a worthy organization and donate. So many children dying from something so simple to help solve. And that's sad.
Also, never kill an animal so you can get a selfie of yourself with it. That's just horrible. I read about a group of people killing a baby shark today, because they had to all get an Individual pic to post with it, they killed it by keeping it out of the water, and they didn't even care. That's ridiculous. Sorry, off my soap box now, but that made me a little disappointed in humanity after the buckets raised my hopes for us.
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