Three More Weeks . . .

Today is the 4th of July, the celebration in this country of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, a document not well understood by our citizens, who today are posting impassioned statements on social media about their Right to not wear a mask in the midst of increasing coronavirus infections throughout the country.     A Facebook 'friend' posted a blurb about how we must outlaw voting by mail to protect our Right to free and fair elections, another political red herring that annoys me on this beautiful July morning.   I was up early today.  While my husband slept, I drank coffee on the back deck until I tired of the squirrels up high in the trees who kept dropping broken acorn shells on my head.    My husband, going through his Daniel Boone phase, has eliminated most of the resident chipmunks, so now the squirrels are in perpetual party mode.

We have had recent visits - both day and night - from a raccoon family, as well as a couple of what appear to be raccoon senior citizens.    At one point the mother of four kits saw me watching and got up on her hind feet in a "begging pose," but (as much as I enjoy watching critters) we are not falling for that cute ploy.  

We watched the film version of the stage play "Hamilton" last night and I fell in love with it just as much as my family did when they first saw it several years ago.    It is hard not to wonder how different this county would be if Hamilton, an abolitionist (for whatever mixed reasons), had lived another 50 years, as his wife did.   

My husband continues to keep our house stocked with cut flowers.  I try to be sure to really notice and enjoy them a bit every day; I am afraid I will become so spoiled that they become meaningless to me, and that would be a shame.

My son's family came to visit this week, for the first time since the quarantine began.   We sat out on the deck and talked, keeping distance between their family and the two of us.  My grandson wore a mask most of the time but the rest of us relied on the outdoor air and the fact that we have all been socially isolated.    Any of us would be devastated to infect the others.   It was so good, so very good, to see them.   The visit seemed much too short and it was hard to see them go.  I didn't think to take a single photo., which I now regret, though at the time I was busy just drinking in the sight of them.

My shoulder and foot continue to heal.   Going to physical therapy two or three times a week has made a huge difference in both pain and range of motion for my shoulder.  My therapist can  move the arm far beyond anything I can reach, and so I am pretty sure that I would improve even more quickly if I could muster the discipline to do the exercises at home with as much dedication as I had at the beginning of this process.   I do some, every day, but I do not do them with either the rigor or regularity as I did before the surgery.

I had another x-ray of my foot this week.  The gap at the base of the 5th metatarsal is still visible from all angles, which my doctor said was expected because this is not an area that heals quickly.  I will have to wear the 'boot' for another three weeks, but then, if there is evidence that healing is occurring (however slowly), he will let me transition to regular shoes.    If the healing does not progress, or if there is still much pain, we will need to discuss surgery.  But the surgery, which would involve a bone graph and several pins, sounds to me as if it would be worse than living with the break, so I plan to avoid it if at all possible.

We have no celebrations planned.  Perhaps I will remove my 'boot' long enough to do a bit of sewing, or maybe I will find something to bake or something fun to cook.   No worries here.   At least at the moment - and the moment is all we ever have --  life is good.