Leaps of Faith

Contrary to conventional thinking, most landscapers know that a newly planted tree should never be staked. To develop health, strength and resistance the tree needs to be free to move with the wind. It's a leap of faith, proven by science. So with this brace. It allows plenty of movement even as it keeps my vertebrae protected. I'm removing it at night now and a little during the day to start to rebuild my muscles. I still can't bend over, even without the limitations of the brace, but I think that may have as much to do with stiffness and lack of use as weakness of the muscles and fractured vertebra. Today my niece Madeline is coming to help me start cutting back the gardens, cleaning up and putting things away for the season. This usually takes me days and days, especially after the dahlias have hardened off in the ground and need to be lifted, rinsed, tagged and stored in boxes full of wood shavings in my upstairs studio. The garlic will need to be planted and I hope to get her to help me with that, too. This summer I could only watch as first Jessica then Antoinette dug it for me. By October I might even be able to bend over enough to push the cloves into the raised beds myself. Like planting spring flowering bulbs in the fall, planting garlic is one of those leaps of faith that there will be a gratifying payoff ten months later. By then I will certainly be harvesting my own garlic again.

Great News

Fantastic news! My back is healing normally, on schedule and I have been given the green light to get back behind the wheel. Being able to drive again when you live a half hour away from ANYTHING is HUGE! Many thanks to those who have chauffered me around these last five weeks and gratitude to those who offfered to help in any way. I'll have pain for awhile but it is reassuring knowing that all those aches and pains are a normal part of the healing process. The disappointing news is that I probably won't be able to curl the first half of the season as I won't even be able to start any kind of physical therapy until after the beginning of November, (when I can shed the brace for good) which is the start of the season. Bummer, but I am really, really, really glad that I am still on this earth to be able to return to the things I so love to do and hug the people I love............

Follow Up Tomorrow

Tomorrow, finally, I will have the follow up appointment in Portland for an X ray on my back and a meeting with a neurosurgeon to discuss it. I am looking forward to this and hoping for the best. Bart will come with me so he hears it all first hand. I'm trying to stay positive and patient and I'm assuming we will see significant healing in the back. At this point I am beginning to feel more aches and pain in other areas like hips and legs as a result of wearing the brace which makes me walk, sit and stand awkwardly. As a result, I am only truly comfortable sitting in a very straight chair for short stretches or lying on my back. Maybe I'll be able to remove the brace long enough to start some physical therapy. I've got to get back into shape--the curling season is only a few weeks away!

Restlessness Settles In

I know it's a good sign, this retlessness, eagerness to get back to my life. I have had many lectures on Patience and I am trying to be a good student so as not to permanently screw up the healing that is working its magic. I look forward to getting back to normal conversations, those that aren't about me or what happened to me. It's still inconceivable to me--what are the chances??--but it did happen and it is over (or almost over). I want to get back to my duties at Aarhus and voluntering at Waterfall Arts. Curling season is coming up and I need to get into shape for that. Too disappointing to think that I might not be able to get on the ice this fall...Still taking walks to hold onto some small amount of muscle tone. Balance and strength are improving. I'm looking ahead.

Life Amazingly Goes On

KC and I finally connected yesterday by phone. In spite of how strong and positive she sounded it was a long, emotionally difficult, often terrifying, conversation comparing notes and hearing what she has gone through since impact, since being so badly injured, in the hospital for 15 days, risky surgeries that she somehow made it through. She is an AMAZING testament to the mind and body's ability to heal. We both continue to be so grateful for our lives and for our families who have helped us through. Though KC and I had just met and had talked only briefly before the crash, I was looking forward to getting to know her a little once we got to Owl's Head where I was to give her a ride to meet her daughter in Union. When we are both stronger, a little ways down the road, we will get together. I am really looking forward to that.

Back To Work!

Five weeks now since the plane crash. Bart indulged me over the weekend in a trip to Lucia beach so I could cool off and take a walk in another setting. I have been recounting the plane crash experience for someone different every day and each time it feels a little less real, I get a little more distance, though I continue to keep myself awake at night revisitng the terror, the rescue, the hospitalization...But today was a really great day as I had a chance to get into the studio and get back to work on my art. It may be crap until I get back into the rhythm of it but I don't care, what's important is that I am able to be in my studio and work again.....

An Adventurous Life

A friend asked me the other day, "How do you manage to live such an adventurous life?" Taken aback, I thought "Surely he isn't referring to my recent close call in the airplane crash..." I got to thinking about the nature of "adventures" (dictionary definition: 1. An undertaking of a hazardous nature, a risky enterprise. 2. An unusual experience or course of events marked by excitement and suspense) as well as the last year and a half when he and I have been getting to know each other's lives.
And you know what? I really have had some adventures, until recently of the most enviable kind...In April of 2010 my long time buddy Jessica Straus and I took a three week trip to France,where we rented a car and drove around studying a detailed road map to visit outsider art sites and ended up being delayed in Paris (tough, eh?) for a few days while we waited for the smoke and ash to clear following the eruption of the volcano in Iceland. THAT was an adventure! And then if I think about all the times I've gone on curling trips out of state or to Canada with either my women's team or any mixed team, well, every single one of those trips has been an adventure. Although this summer has been an exception (we never got our boats in the water) Bart and I choose kayaking over any other summer activity; every single one of these trips has had its element of adventure. Another trip abroad this spring, this time with Bart, to Scotland to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Driving a car with right hand drive, on single lane roads covered with sheep above steep drop offs into the ocean on far flung islands...before we left for Scotland that same volcano (or was it another one?) posed a threat to air travel. Travel is always an adventure, a risky enterprise. That flight between Matinicus and Owl's Head has been done thousands of times all year round without incident over the years. Who would have thought that a routine 15 minute flight in my own backyard in Maine would have resulted in the biggest adventure of my life? So, I have given this some thought, Richard, and you know what? I could go on. I love my adventurous life and won't stop stepping out my door or getting on a plane, big or small, to continue to live it fully.
On the other hand, I am decidedly NOT interested in doing what Bart's parents, ages 82 and 79, are doing right now: sailing the Maine, N.H. and Massachusetts coasts to get back to Old Lyme, CT. We heard only a fraction of THEIR adventures last night and I say "No, thank you!" to THAT! Something to do with my intimate experience of the water temperature, I suspect.