eight hours

Last night I got 8 solid hours of sleep and what a positive difference that makes in recovery. Like the night before, I still had dreams about my ankle but I dreamed about traveling, too, so that gave my psyche a break from reality.

Very slowly I am stretching my ankle toward my body as directed by the doctor and then I am also doing "air walking"--that's what I call it when I pump my leg in the air AS IF I am walking, trying to activate the calf muscle, build up some strength for the time when I can begin to put weight on it. I guess, also, when I air walk I am moving toward next week (I hope) when I can water walk--no weight on the ankle but using resistance in the water to move the muscles and build strength.

Will I remember these steps of recovery when I am back walking? How can I incorporate lessons learning from this into daily life? I watch my defined movements while I am dressing, for example, and I realize I am learning mindfulness--a state of being I have read about for years and wanted to "do" but in my 65 mph life, I was too quick to be mindful. Now, I have no choice. I need to be aware of movements, how I hold my unbooted leg, lifting, shifting weight, trying to stay in balance which is a metaphor for living.

Maybe because my mind is full of defined movements it can't carry much else. Work and other life issues just seem to cycle in and out with few remnants of meaning remaining. Oh, well, that's part of where I am right now.

So I sit here, unbooted, icing the ankle under my soft white "butter" sock (soft like butter; I bought this pair years ago at Phoenix's Neiman Marcus because it was the only purchase I could afford and never used them much, but here one is, planted on my foot like a fluffy cloud). Occasionally, I work my toes and two or three times I take a towel and use it for leverage to pull those muscles, gently, in a fake walking movement.

And so it goes.