Night become Day and Day becomes Night every cycle…whether it’s sunrise or moonrise, we are clear to rise either physically, spiritually or both…we do and shall rise.
I am coming to the end of a six month wait for fusion surgery on my left ankle…two years ago I had my ankle replaced, then last May I had a car run over the same foot and in August I fell off of my knee roller and broke the hardware….My hospitalist cleared me for surgery last week and smiled when he saw me, “so you’re back for part 2?” He was aghast when I told him my former insurance company denied coverage two days before the original surgery date of November 18…”how did you manage for 6 months?” I calmly told him that I had three choices: Wood Box, Urn or the Road…I chose the road.
During the six months, my staff, crow boot and/or knee roller became topics of discussion with a boundary crossing eeriness, as all genders aged 6 to 96 — across all cultural, class and gender lines. The number of folks who befriended me by sharing their various joint journeys or showed sincere empathy with my journey as totally amazing. While the virtuosity of my patience with the journey was found refreshing by many, I saw no reason to be angry, disappointed or sad about my condition…at a recent medical symposium, I had to relieve myself from the company of a director of a hospital’s wellness program who was peskily following me around asking, “aren’t you angry about your ankle? Aren’t you sad…” and so on.
I did and do find joy in every day and don’t accept the concept of problems, but rather challenges…as my camel riding (on occasion) dear friend, Dr. George Clinton coined the chorus:
…without humps, there will be no getting over…get up for the downstroke!
With every challenge there is a solution and around every corner there’s another one and another solution, after all…the world is round, but I refuse to emulate a dog chasing his tail and catching it (which is a zero)…rather to build on the lessons and be spiral-like.
So this chapter of the ankle journey includes an implant, titanium shaft, stem cells, crushed pelvis bone, screws and 90 days of no weight bearing…my goal is to dance with my wife on her December birthday.
In short…if you see me limping down the street and I start to sing, each time we meet…just say high and know that I’m glad to walk on by.
Originally published at medium.com