I'm starting to emerge from the darkness of my first knee replacement surgery, which was 11 days ago.
The thing that surprises me about this is not the pain, which passed fairly quickly, but the feelings of weakness and fogginess that surround me. I have trouble being able to read - the words swim about the page - I have trouble doing hand sewing on my quilt projects - the needle seems to have a mind of its own. I haven't even touched my photo organizing project.
But worst of all, I haven't been able to do any writing. To get to a place where I can do anything creative, I have to be able to move into that space, and I guess the things that are going on with me right here, right now, are too compelling to enable me to put them to one side.
But it's only 11 days out - and every day seems fractionally better. The one thing I promised myself was that I wasn't going to try to hurry this healing. That I was going to take whatever time it was going to take, because it is a one-time thing I'm doing here. I need to take the time to do it well.
I just don't think I'm going to get as much progress done on my writing as I had hoped. But if all works out, I'll have the time and energy to do it soon.
Denise Tackett - quilter and pie aficionado
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Nolan at 2
I plan to write a poem each year on my grandson's birthday - here's this year's:
Nolan at 2
He greets us as we come in
with extravagant joy
"Yeah, Yeah," he says
as if he can't think of anything better
than us, coming through the door.
He has a big smile, sparkling eyes,
and a brand new haircut
- all his blond curls gone -
the hair carefully shaped to his head,
instantly aging him from baby to big boy.
We give him Batman, Superman and Spiderman,
small figures that just fit his hands,
and feed his new-found super hero passion.
He hops impatiently while his Dad
pulls them out of the packaging.
He doesn't want to open any other gifts.
We settle down with chocolate cake
and vanilla ice cream melting on the side,
while Batman and Superman fly among us
side-by-side, ever vigilant,
powered by 2-year-old magic.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
A Good Start
Today I met up with my best friend, Carla, for lunch. I've known Carla since we first met in college 39 years ago this year. She is one of the very, very few people in my life who has known me when I was a teenager all the way up to now. We were college roommates and shared an apartment when we were in our twenties. We were the maid-of-honor in each other's weddings. She's one of my son's Godmother.
We've led parallel lives, getting married and having children all within the same few years. Even our weight tends to be the same and as we get older, we tend to have the same health problems.
We don't get to see as much of each other as we would like. Although we only live a few miles apart, we both have separate and busy lives. That's why it's so good to start out the new year with a good, long visit. Each time we meet up, it's like we are carrying on a conversation we were having the day before - or maybe even 40 years before.
She is blessed with several sisters, I am not. She's the closest thing I have to a sister sibling and these days, that means a lot. I know that she'll be there for me, even if we can't get together too often.
And I hope she knows that I'll be there for her too.
We've led parallel lives, getting married and having children all within the same few years. Even our weight tends to be the same and as we get older, we tend to have the same health problems.
We don't get to see as much of each other as we would like. Although we only live a few miles apart, we both have separate and busy lives. That's why it's so good to start out the new year with a good, long visit. Each time we meet up, it's like we are carrying on a conversation we were having the day before - or maybe even 40 years before.
She is blessed with several sisters, I am not. She's the closest thing I have to a sister sibling and these days, that means a lot. I know that she'll be there for me, even if we can't get together too often.
And I hope she knows that I'll be there for her too.
New Year Musings
Last year at this time, after a 2010 that was joyful, painful, hectic, happy, busy and overwhelming all at the same time, I asked for only a few things for 2011 - I wanted everyone to stay put for a while.
It worked! We had no weddings, births, funerals, job changes, moves or other dramatic events. The year was one that allowed me to take a breather, heal my bruises and make some decisions about the future.
We did do a lot of traveling - two trips out west (Wyoming and Utah) and several short weekend trips and a couple longer workshops.
This year will be different. This year I ask for time to heal. I'm having surgery on my knees the first part of the year, then I need to concentrate on getting my strength and stamina back.
To be able to do that, I have cleared the decks of obligations and volunteer work. I will concentrate on my health, my writing, my family and my friends. I will NOT run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to be everything to everybody. The time for that is over. And to tell the truth, I never was that good at it anyway!
It worked! We had no weddings, births, funerals, job changes, moves or other dramatic events. The year was one that allowed me to take a breather, heal my bruises and make some decisions about the future.
We did do a lot of traveling - two trips out west (Wyoming and Utah) and several short weekend trips and a couple longer workshops.
This year will be different. This year I ask for time to heal. I'm having surgery on my knees the first part of the year, then I need to concentrate on getting my strength and stamina back.
To be able to do that, I have cleared the decks of obligations and volunteer work. I will concentrate on my health, my writing, my family and my friends. I will NOT run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to be everything to everybody. The time for that is over. And to tell the truth, I never was that good at it anyway!
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