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Last Monday morning, as I was beginning one of my favorite rituals, walking in my neighborhood with my dog, I experienced an odd sort of twinge in my left foot.<\/p>\nLast Monday morning, as I was beginning one of my favorite rituals, walking in my neighborhood with my dog, I experienced an odd sort of twinge in my left foot.<\/p>\n
I had just stepped onto the sidewalk from the last of three cement stairs at my building\u2019s front door. Pain began to radiate from the middle of my foot. I thought I heard the sound of something snapping.<\/p>\n
The discomfort was bearable for a while, then the pain grew. I made the walk short, much to my dog\u2019s displeasure, and took my time getting up the stairs to my second floor residence.<\/p>\n
I checked email then set about trying to figure out where I could go to have my foot checked out. I didn\u2019t want to go somewhere only to be \u201creferred\u201d to another clinic or other provider.<\/p>\n
I ended up going to an orthopedic immediate care clinic in my network where I was x-rayed and given a post-op boot to wear. I was asked if I wanted a cane or crutch or walker then told to come back in two weeks.<\/p>\n
I was disappointed with the directives given. I wanted a precise diagnosis and treatment plan right away.<\/p>\n
The x-ray didn\u2019t show any breaks, although the sports medicine doc agreed that some types of fractures might not show up on an x-ray for a while. They were reluctant to order an MRI because of the expense.<\/p>\n
I drove home and parked, taking even more time to ascend my back stairs than when I climbed up to my unit\u2019s front door after returning from my abbreviated morning walk.<\/p>\n
I was near tears. Losing much of my mobility sucked. Although I have lived alone most of my life, and certainly managed all right during the pandemic, I wished I had a \u201cgo-to\u201d person or two that would take care of things.<\/p>\n
I set about figuring out who could shop for me and made arrangements for dog walkers. I found myself talking about the injury to people who weren\u2019t that involved in my daily life.<\/p>\n
I felt in unfamiliar territory, sharing personal information I wouldn\u2019t normally, but I wanted others to know that I was going through a hard time.<\/p>\n
Once, during the week, I did go out for dinner. A friend came over and drove us to a restaurant to meet mutual friends who were moving to California in two weeks. It was interesting to be a passenger instead of the driver.<\/p>\n
I generally like driving myself around. I like choosing the radio station and the volume.<\/p>\n
I like deciding which yellow lights lean to golden and merit pressing harder on the gas and which yellow lights lean towards \u201camber\u201d and truly deserve more caution.<\/p>\n
I like that the mirrors and my proximity to the wheel have been adjusted to suit my preferences.<\/p>\n
I like tooling around without shame over old dry cleaning receipts or slightly stained grocery tote bags occupying my back seat.<\/p>\n
Being a passenger has made me think about letting go and asking for help \u2014 and my relationship with time.<\/p>\n
Being driven or being cared for can be nice as long as I choose the destination or have a say in what\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n
Sitting on the right side of a vehicle encourages me to observe and be present to life in front of me; businesses that have opened or closed on nearby boulevards, new locations for bike racks, the angle of the sun.<\/p>\n
And, of course, sitting on the right side is an opportunity to practice patience.<\/p>\n
As I thought about my initial reaction to waiting two weeks to take another x-ray just to figure out the severity of my injury, I had to laugh about my new attitude. Going somewhere as a passenger, It seemed easier to cop the attitude, \u201cI\u2019ll get there, when I get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experiencing an injury and slowing down has caused me to think about realizing a dream being about allowing<\/strong> as much as it’s about effort.<\/p>\n Sometimes it\u2019s great to experience things coming to you.<\/p>\n Knowing that being a passenger or driver is based on where you sit, not on who you are, is no small thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Monday morning, as I was beginning one of my favorite rituals, walking in my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[632],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-blog","grateful-dozen-musings-imaginings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n