"Strange Days"

Last year, in September, my wife suffered a shattered leg. It took her months to heal enough to put weight on it again. At first she was just in the bed, for more than a month, and in constant pain. Later she could sit in a wheelchair, and visit the back deck on a sunny day. She talked a lot about what the experience was like, and this essay has a lot in it that sounds familiar.
How the feel of time changes when all the terms are altered. What on most days had moved with an almost hectic momentum, an ill-choreographed succession of one thing after another, one day just halted, causing the hours to then pool up behind it: the afternoon immobilized, with almost nothing to mark the change or confirm that this is not the world paralyzed into still life.
The experience for my wife was rejuvenating in many ways. Being able to walk again is a special joy, whereas walking before was not special. I can see that she's recovered a pleasure in ordinary life in other ways, too. I hope the author will have a similar experience.

5 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to hear she's doing better. When you didn't mention her for a long time I feared she was having a tough time.

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  2. It's only that she is a private person, and doesn't much like to be discussed!

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  3. Vicki1:18 PM

    She was moving wonderfully a couple of weekends ago, and I was very glad to see her and to see how well she is doing.

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  4. Thanks for giving her a lift anyway. As you saw, I kept being dispatched back to the distant parking lots all day for more things she decided she needed, first among them a stool to sit upon.

    But she had a wonderful time.

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  5. She has my best wishes. I suspect most of us who have led active lives have an assortment of memories that conjure up sincere empathy.

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