Flip Side

I was all about to write a litany of complaints vis a vis the foot (starting to consider whether I've torn ligaments, since I'm still bed bound at the end of day 6 and I'm occasionally losing my mind about it), when it occurred to me that I've really got to change my attitude.

Today I was talking with my friend Sandra, admonishing her for not being adequately grateful for her mobility, when it occurred to me that I was sitting there bitching at her instead of being grateful for my healthy arms (which are using the computer to work from home), my strong constitution, my every breath - you get the idea.

So here's a list of opportunities (and gratitude) about living with a healing (really hideous, painful, dare I say severe) foot sprain:

• It appears that I've been going at rocket pace for months now (ok, years, but you get the point). I'm starting to wonder if any other kind of injury could have required me, so succinctly, to sit in one spot and rest.
• I don't have the flu, which is truly the worst illness ever.
• My office (specifically my manager) has been insanely accommodating, facilitating my remote work arrangement as I heal. I am truly grateful that, instead of making me feel guilty for this injury, they are encouraging me to take care and giving me opportunities to work despite my immobility.
• This happened the evening of (i.e. right after) the final big work project I've been alluding to for months.
• Online shopping lets you buy food from the UK and clothes for your kid - all in 10 minutes. With sales, if you're smart.
• I am an competent practitioner of Iyengar yoga - my only method of exercise (nay, movement) right now. It's also foot therapy. I've got a post coming up on this in the next couple of days.
• I only had to wait 3 hours in the emergency room and I got excellent care and it was free. (Thank you socialized medicine.)
• I'm not going as crazy as I thought I would. A woman I work with managed to (in a freak accident) fall off a ravine in July and she broke her foot and ankle. She went through major surgery, followed by 3 months of bed rest, and just returned to work 2 weeks ago - in an air cast. When I heard about this I sympathized tremendously. I grieved for her. Man, I thought of her with all of my positive vibes because I couldn't imagine a world in which I might be immobilized for 3 days, much less 3 months. There's a sweet sort of irony about this, no?
• I'm not outrageously hungry. Of course, I'm not doing much moving, but I never knew how much movement and hunger correlate.
• I can't get to the food easily. I don't need to explain this one, right?
• My husband has to do all the fetching and carrying - can't say how much I appreciate not doing any cooking or cleaning up.
• I have wine and the internet!!
• As Cal says (though she had a little help from the Buddha): It is not what we carry with us, but what we let go of that defines who we are.

Here's to being here now, peeps. xo

PS: For y'all who've recently dropped by to see my sewing posts, please don't lose interest. I do lots of them (too many, according to some!). Just having challenges sewing and photographing due to the injury. I'll be back to a cross section of sewing posts soon.

Update: I must have been in a wine-haze happy place when I wrote this. Today, my zen perspective is all shot to hell. For starters, I just dropped the phone (model circa 1990 and it weighs a pound) on my face and now I suspect I'm going to have a mega black eye as my eye is all weepy and puffy. WTF?!?!?!? (Did I mention I've now officially run out of arnica?) This is to say nothing of a second degree burn I gave myself about 2 weeks ago, pressing some fabric, which is still ugly and scar-ry on my forearm. Scott just advised that he wants me to sign an affidavit indicating that he blameless re: my numerous injuries, and I can see why. Oh, why are all of these things so ugly, even as they are painful?

Update 2: I can't believe I'm posting this, but I feel the need to show y'all the state of my foot seven days after the injury:

This photo is from Scott's cell phone and I can't figure out how to make it bigger... Like you want to see it bigger...