I wanted to take a moment to do what everyone is supposed to do at the beginning of the new year. To reflect back on the year that just ended and to look forward to the year ahead. This entry is dedicated to looking back. In my case there is a lot to reflect back on. Many things have happened in the last year.
I sold the Austin-tatious house. We bought the Old Blue House to renovate. I think I’ve covered BOTH the sale AND the purchase fairly extensively IN other blog entires so I won’t rehash all of that again. I will however talk about the last half of 2011 a bit. July 27, 2011 was a pivotal day for me. It was approximately 8 AM on bright sunny morning. I was driving to work and when I came over the crest of a hill, I found out that there was a large John Deere tractor in the road. With a tractor 15 feet away and moving at 5 MPH and me moving at 50 MPH, the inevitable happened. I hit it.
The effects of that accident have been far-reaching. It’s changed my life IN ways that I really didn’t expect or anticipate. It’s really forced me TO pare my life back TO basics. AND it’s been hard not being as independent as I am accustomed to be. It’s been good though because it would have been trivial FOR DHB TO walk away FROM the physical wreck that I was. He didn’t though. He stuck with me through this and so I feel confident that he will stick with me through anything else life has to throw at us.
While I might have been the one with the broken bones and internal injuries but he’s been the one who has borne the brunt OF it. He’s been the one who has had to keep house running while I spent a week in ICU and nearly another month in the hospital. He’s been the one who has had TO wrestle my wheel chair out OF the house, IN AND out OF the pick up (since I wrecked the car) . He’s been the one who has had to do the grocery shopping, the banking, feeding the dogs, and a lot of other house hold tasks. I haven’t been able TO do it so he’s had to be the one to do it or it simply hasn’t happened.
My whole life has become a puzzle. I have TO figure out if AND how I can do ALL kinds OF things now. The physical AND occupational therapists were able TO help me WITH SOME things. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to pull your pants up when you can’t stand. OR how hard it can be TO put your socks ON WHEN you can’t reach your feet. Other things I have had to figure out for myself. If you can’t stand up, how do you GET the sock out OF the bottom OF the washing machine? How do you GET the can OF soup down without dropping it ON yourself? How do you fix a meal that’s more substantial than a sandwich or a bowl of cereal?
Still, I have managed to find a silver lining in all of this. And that will be in the looking forward entry.
The Life and Times of the Little Blue House 