Walking Spirit

threw me off a bit. I didn't even realize yesterday was Wednesday until 10:00pm and, at that point, I was too tired to do the update. Fact is, I'm pretty tired now, so this isn't going to be very long.

A friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail asking if life was just constantly busy now, or if I got time to relax. I haven't had a chance to get back to her because life really is constantly busy. On Friday I found myself thinking how much I was looking forward to getting some rest over the long holiday weekend. Unfortunately the rest never came.

I'm very glad that I did the things that kept me busy over the weekend, I just tend to forget that I can't go at my old pace anymore. However, I got to visit with old friends who I haven't seen in many years. We had dinner with the Cindy and Marty Carpenter, who live in North Carolina, on Friday night. (When I was in the hospital, really drugged up, I thought there was a bomb in my room and wanted Marty to use his Pentagon connections to save me.) Cindy and Marty were a huge part of my childhood and a tremendous help to Mom and dad after the accident.

Saturday morning I had the Pilate's benefit class, which raised $1000.00, and left me sore for the remainder of the weekend. Saturday afternoon I went to see Pirate's of the Caribbean with some friends.

Sunday morning I intended to sleep in because we weren't going to church that morning. Work put a stop to my plans to sleep in and woke me early with a question. I then tried to spend the rest of the day relaxing and getting caught up on household chores. This, unfortunately, was interrupted frequently throughout the day by calls from work. On Monday I tried to sleep in again but, to no avail, as work once again intruded on my dreams, at an early hour, with phone calls.

Monday night we had a cook out with Kenyon and Paula, who live in Florida. Kenyon is one of my Godfathers and Paula is his wife. Kenyon, like Cindy and Marty, was an important part of my childhood as well. He was also a huge support to my parents after the accident. If I'm lucky I get to see them once a year.

On Tuesday night we had Dinner with Jan and Rene, from Switzerland. Jan has been friends with Mom and Dad since their IU days, and Rene is her husband. Jan wrote the letter about the miracle that I live, that is used in the cookbook. I haven't seen Rene since I was about 5 years old. He doesn't speak much english, but (as the story goes) when I was 5 I sat on his lap and we talked for hours and seemed to understand each other. This time around I didn't sit on his lap but, even though I couldn't understand the language, I was still able to understand a lot of what he was trying to say. Strange huh?

The point about trying to sleep in is that, ever since the accident, I have a hard time sleeping. I wake up frequently throughout the night to change positions, which isn't easy without legs. Due to the long commute to work I'm not getting to spend much time at home and frequently don't get enough sleep. So, I'm tired a lot of the time. I realize that this is the price I pay for trying to be as active, if not more active, as I was before the accident. Just don't be surprised if I decide to be lazy for a while, at some point, somewhere in the future...