In which I'm not the only one pining for someplace else

This week got off to a rocky start. Let's just say that when the beach water is like bath water, Beast #2 thinks drinking half the Gulf of Mexico is an acceptable way to cool off. My car did not appreciate the after effects. Neither did the carpet. Well, or me. Plus apparently I'm allergic to the Redneck Riviera, and it's SO HOT AND HUMID. The dogs are absolute terrors from boredom and about die if they're outside more than five minutes.

This is not fun and I'm going bonkers along with them. I don't understand why people move here of their own free will.

By Sunday afternoon I was in tears and doing what I'd promised I'd never do- telling Peleke tearfully over the phone (while he was on a work trip, no less) how much I hate the Redneck Riviera (and by extension the Air Force for moving us here). *sigh*

He'll be home this evening, so things are definitely looking up. Plus I had a really nice time at a Sunday BBQ, taco dinner with some friends last night, and tea with a friend this morning. Oh, and I can walk pretty much normally too.

By the way, here's some random Redneck Riviera trivia for you. Within a span of 50 miles, there are the following roads: Punjob Road, Billy Bob Lane, and Costaki Court. Assuming by "punjob" they meant "punjab" (not inconceivable given the region of the US and that "punjob" isn't a real word), that's an interesting smattering of locales represented.

A little of this, a little of that

Hmm, it's been a month and a half. Most of my life has been consumed by surgery and rehab up until now, though, and I'm pretty sure that's not what anyone wants to read about (and so it has been posted elsewhere) :p You'll be happy to know (at least, I hope) that I'm now drug free and walking pretty much normally. The hardware will come out in August. Hip hip hooray! Heh, pun intended. Bottom line- as far as I can tell, the soul-crushing surgery was totally worth it :)

Anyway, I'm working on getting back to this blog. One of Dr. Leap's recent posts expressed what I often felt when I worked nights, especially number seven! But night shifts for blog posts isn't worth it in my book. Or blog :)

Inane item number one- something I've often contemplated. Why do some people who are otherwise civil and follow social decorum at, say, the supermarket, act like jerks in traffic? They wouldn't rudely cut in front of you with their cart in a long checkout line, yet they rudely cut you off in traffic. It's just strange.

This next thing is totally unrelated to the point of the billboard in question, just something about the design of the ad that I find amusing (let it be known that I'm an equal opportunity tattletale about this sort of thing). There are some pro-life billboards around here that have a chubby little baby sitting down proclaiming "my heart starts beating at 18 days" with an EKG tracing running the bottom length of the sign. Upon first glance, my thought was, "not for long like that, it's not!" Dude seriously, if you're trying to show a live, strong heartbeat, at least don't make it a ventricular rhythm with a wide QRS complex! Bad news, baby, bad news.

On marriage

Admittedly, the main reason I started this post is to share two articles that I've come across recently and feel are worth passing along. At the end of this month, Peleke and I will have been married two years. Even in two years (and with many stretches of time apart), I've learned a lot about Peleke, me, and marriage.

I'm lucky to have good role models in my parents, and he likewise with his. We're also both lucky to have peers in marriages worth emulating.

Anyway, the two articles I hope you'll take the time to read are as follows:

1. Dr. Manning from the blog Reflections of a Grady Doc gives a shameless plug for marriage.

2. Dr. Leap from the blog Edwin Leap points out the importance of levity when seeking out romance and intimacy as a married couple with kids in date night romance revisited.

From time to time I run across other worthwhile posts and may retroactively come add them to this post. Like Dr. Manning said, I think there are all kind of good reasons to be married, and sometimes we need to hear them again and from different perspectives.

After all, we get it on all sides from the naysayers!

Progress

Weight bearing minus six days!

And today I went swimming (for the second time)!

And I drove!

And I'm off the narcs!

Nice.

Added blessings (and a post I need more for myself than anything else)

It has been a month today since surgery. I'm not gonna lie. It has been harder than I had anticipated- longer recovery, more pain, and certainly more sleep deprivation than I'd hoped for. All that equals one discouraged and sad patient.

In short, it sucks.

However.

Muddling through the pain this afternoon in a sleep deprived, melancholy state, I remembered something.* I remember feeling hopeless (and with some just cause, I might add) regarding my knees this November when things started to go downhill rapidly. I'd done a lot of research and finally, in desperation, had emailed Dr. Michigan in hopes of his having something to possibly contribute. The following rollercoaster of relief, hope, validation, devastation, frustration, and renewed hope with Dr. Texas was an interesting combination.

Right now, I'm trying to recapture all that hope I discovered and hang on. I'm trying to keep perspective... or at least trust in the perspective of my family.

The worst pain is over. While I can't claim to be doing much more than hanging on to sanity (and even that might be a stretch), it pretty much can only get better from here, right? I'll eventually sleep, eat, walk, and be drug free again. I have some gnarly scars that will heal great. This is very likely the end of the vast majority of troubles on this leg.

Bigger still, the nerve injury has been cured- something I hadn't expected, not even dared hope for. I can't be too thankful for Dr. Texas for not only restoring my body but making it even better.

Perhaps more importantly yet in everything, I have a husband who has been so patient, so attentive, and so loving. That might even be the biggest blessing of all.

God is truly a god of hope and healing, isn't He?

*I think it was encouraged in part by tea, of all thing. A dear friend from Mercy Ships sent me a package this week full of tea and a book- perfect. I'll admit, I chose the first tea to drink this afternoon based on its novelty (Heh. Noveltea. Be quiet. I'm drugged.). It's a little ball of something (the head of some flower?) that fits snugly inside one of those tea diffusers.** At first sip, I had the very powerful image of walking through a greenhouse. I love greenhouses and love walking through them and smelling all the flowers and soil. In a pinch, walking through the outdoor lawn and garden section of Lowe's will do. Anyway, it always relaxes me. For some reason, it made me feel hopeful. Can't attribute it to spring because we're past that here in the Redneck Riviera. It's full on summer here in my book now.

**I had to google what they are called. My search terms? Tea dunking metal. We called ours "shrimper" growing up and used to make it "talk" and bite fingers. Ooooh my family.

The stuff middle school nightmares are made of?

Ha! I totally want to be this guy!

In other pressing news...

I realized something yesterday as I was crutching my way past the mirror post shower. I have left-sided frog butt.

*sigh*

I was going to post a picture to illustrate, but Google images has failed on that front. Or back. Whatever.

Imagine, if you will, pulling a frog upright by its front legs so that it's "standing" on its back legs. Picture how the legs connect to the torso- no butt, just flat, right? That, my friends, is frog butt.

I really need to build the muscles back up on the surgical side...

One year ago today, we lost two members of our squadron and two came home severely injured. More lives were lost and injured in the crash, but these four men belonged to us. I'd hoped the emotional intensity of it would have decreased at least a little by now, but I'm not sure that it has.

Today especially, the question of our troops getting paid in the midst of all this government ridiculousness just makes me more angry and sad. Many, many things can be closed for a while or delayed- your troops don't have that option. If they stopped working temporarily along with the museums and, yes, your trash pickup, we would all be in major trouble.

I would hate to think our men were lost and injured in vain.

Cool!

I really wish I could embed these two videos but the kid's parents disabled that option, so you'll have to take the extra mouse clicks to see for yourself. This three year old has a gift for memorizing poetry worth five minutes of your time to see :)

Litany is an impressive recitation. Walking Across the Atlantic is shorter but as heartfelt as a three year old can muster.

Oh right! The blog!

Things have been busy. Well, not exactly busy- more like drugged and painful, but I'm beginning to emerge. Rehab is hard and painful, but we're making progress. I say "we" because I don't know how in the world I'd be able to do this without Peleke. I didn't think I could possibly be more proud of him and love him any more, but then he goes and takes care of me like he has been! I'm a lucky, lucky girl :)

Unfortunately for this blog, I don't really have much to say that doesn't center on my leg or cabin fever at this point. Mostly my mind has been pretty blank and sleepy. Here are some pictures to tide you over: