These
are the continuing adventures of a Swedish immigrant during her first
year as an American. She boldly went where she'd never gone
before...please come along on Adventures
in America.
Tired
of hip stories yet? If you're just arriving, maybe reading H~Hit by a Car and I ~ I Can't BELIEVE I Broke My Hip might help. I left you
with me about to leave the hospital.
Accommodating
someone who can't bend takes some ingenuity. If I was going to be a
part of family meals, a bed needed to be placed in the dining room.
It's
hard to eat lying down, but I could only “stand-up” for a little
while because it hurt SO much, made me dizzy, and also a bit scared,
but I was required a minute or two of vertical time each day. Yes,
it reminds me of modern mommying and “tummy time”.
(left to right: Farmor holding Databoy, Farfar, Grandma Vivian, me, that would the body-cast clad girl, Aunt Risky, Swissie, The Swede)
Eating
lying down was no fun, but there are some fun things you can do lying
down:
doing puzzles with Farfar, using my usual mode of transport, a mechanics creeper, to hold the puzzle not me
goofing around with your sister
continuing your musical education, though blowing enough air without sitting up is not as easy as you'd think (says the now asthma girl...)
but sometimes, it was just plain homework...
One
of the best was experiences of my four months of cast living was
getting to go to The Ice Capades! I was in the handicap section, but
they let one parent (taking turns) sit with me, and I could see
everything. We were treated like royalty at the event.
I grew up skating on ponds all over our neighborhood,
and watching The Swede play hockey at his best friend's
house where they'd actually made a make-shift arena and had goals and
went hard-core. I was glued. (This is foreshadowing – don't want
you to miss it). Watching the skaters awoke a lot of "I guess I can't do that anymore" in me.
Another
favorite memory of cast confinement was taking Farmor and Farfar to
the airport after their long visit. Of course this was a sad time,
and I couldn't stop crying, but my Dad invented this really distracting game where I held on to the curved end of an umbrella and he RAN down the (mostly deserted
international concourse) and would fish-tail me. So I'm lying on
that creeper thing I told you about, and moving at light speed all over this
stone-covered-in-veneer floor. It was like flying! Apparently tiring for the puller, all the adults (except
Farmor, who couldn't stop crying) took turns pulling me.
I
counted the days in my cast. I lived one day at a time. My favorite part of
each day was when my big, strong Daddy would pick me up and carry me
to my bed, whispering love in my ear, and hugging me tight.
