Slowly Getting Back To Normal

This week I've started to slowly get back to normal after overdoing a walk with my girlfriend last Wednesday. On Sunday, I actually left the immediate area of the bedroom for a little while to sit in our living room while we had lunch and watched a little of the NASCAR race. Sunday night, though, I couldn't sleep at all. I was literally up all night crying in pain as my left toe went through these very painful spasms while it tried to put itself back to normal. So Monday, I basically rested in bed all day with the exception of taking a shower so I'd be ready to return to work on Tuesday morning.

Monday also would have been my Mom's 68th birthday. Robin had given me this wonderful idea of buying a balloon in a color Mom would have liked and releasing it from an attractive or meaningful area of the IU campus. I didn't make it out to do that this year so I might keep that in mind as something special for Mother's Day.

Today (Tuesday), I went back to work. My feet are stiff, but, they're not really sore. I'm hoping this is the big indication that all of the soreness is over and that I just need to gradually loosen them back up again. Thankfully, I start at 2 the next two days and work until closing at 7 so I can get up in the morning and take it easy while getting ready. Hopefully, I'll be back in top form by Friday when I work from 9 to 4. I might stay in town at that point and go to karaoke at Imperial Friday night.

Saturday, I'm off work. Dot and I are going to go see the Singing Hoosiers at the IU Auditorium. I introduced her to this group of non-Music Majors last year. She likes them as much as I do. The Singing Hoosiers is one of the things I had missed most about not being in Bloomington. I saw the travelling group once in Richmond, IN at IU East, but, nothing compares to the full ensemble on the auditorium stage.

That will wrap up March. April is right around the corner along with the deadline for filing your tax returns and paying any balance you may owe. This year, you get two extra days because the 15th falls on a Sunday and the 16th is a legal holiday in Washington DC. So, the deadline is the 17th just like last year which also happens to be my birthday. Looks like it'll be a fun night for closing our office again!!

Living With Injuries

When I was just a freshman in college at eighteen years of age, something happened that would change my life and abilities forever. I sprained my right ankle. As anyone who has sprained something knows, sprains don't ever really heal. They may stop hurting for a pretty good stretch of time, but, they never let you forget them either. Mine came back to me this week. Dot and I both love the scenery of the IU campus and she suggested on Wednesday afternoon that she and I get out in the nice weather and take a walk through the campus. I was immediately game for that idea. The only other plan I had after work was to pick my car up from the shop. That's a whole other story I won't go into here, but, it's still not working right. Anyway, I changed from my professional office attire into a pair of gym shorts, T-shirt, and my walking shoes. We went and got the car, parked both vehicles, and took off on our journey.

We were out for over two hours. Neither one of us expected to be out that long and we both paid a physical price for it; but, with my previous injury, it really came back to bite me. First on Thursday morning, my left foot was very sore and tender to walk on. But, everything else was fine so I took a little longer to get around while still making it in to work. That was all my sprain needed to decide it was time to remind me that I was injured. It flared up Thursday night to the point that on Friday morning I called my boss and said that I wasn't up to trying to make the drive in to work. The only thing I can figure is that I overused the right side to compensate for the problems my left side was giving me.

So now it's Saturday and I'm not sure if I can make it to karaoke yet or not. My left foot seems to be fine, but, my right ankle is still hurting. Unless it's in perfect shape by tonight, I'll be staying home. I'll write more later, but, I just felt like ranting my frustrations about how my body doesn't work right anymore.

It's Never Easy

The passing of someone you know is never an easy thing to deal with. This week was going to be a little harder for me to begin with because it was two years ago yesterday (March 14) that my mom passed away from a rare blood disorder. However, that was just going to be the tip of the iceberg.

Sunday morning, I opened the office as usual except that my co-worker wasn't there. Since we just changed to daylight savings time, I didn't think too much about it. I called her and she informed me that she wasn't feeling well and meant to call our office leader. I told her to take care of herself and I'd take care of things at the office. That would be the last time I (or anyone at our office) would talk to her and hear her voice. As I was closing the office, I got a call from a local hospital telling me she'd had a heart attack and was being airlifted to Indianapolis. On Wednesday, she passed away. My office leader called me after I'd gotten back home to give me the news.

Today, I went back to the office and everything felt so strange. A box containing her personal effects was on one of the back tables and there was a memorial to her posted on our bulletin board with her picture. I'll always remember her desire to learn the business. This was her second year with us and she always strove to improve herself and her knowledge. I'm sure things will get easier with time. We were sharing a few laughs today along with getting some tax returns done. There was, however, a very strange quietness to the office also. Everyone was just a little more somber.