Back on my Feet

After three long months of waiting, I finally had both feet on the ground by June 1st. It was an odd sensation, where my left foot felt everything. According to my physical therapist, the sensors had been out of commission for some time, and needed time to wake up. Part of me was also fearful of the fragility of my knee buckling under my weight, but I took it slow and weened myself off of crutches in about a week. I am currently moving forward with strengthening the muscles in my *bird legs* by using weight and water exercises, in addition to the stationary bike.

It is reassuring to see progress now that I am in the driver's seat of my recovery, and I feel more myself than I have since my injury in March. However, the weight-bearing phase presents a new set of obstacles. One of my greatest personal challenges is resisting the urge to be too hard on myself. It's often easy to become discouraged with the gradual pace of my recovery. Furthermore, residual joint laxity could cause problems in the future, which is frustrating in itself, but also regarding my pending career with the AF. Nevertheless, I intend to dig deep for patience and not worry about something that may never happen.

Sunrise

Sunset, summer solstice

I still have a long road ahead of me, but I think that the worst is behind me. I remain optimistic in my determination to rebuild myself stronger than before. My knee may never be 100% again, but I will be. Do I think that I'm too young to have bad knees? Absolutely. But life is mysterious and unpredictable. It's wise to remain flexible with what the universe has in store. We either adapt to change, or we get left behind.

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

-Viktor E. Frankl

 

Apart from an important milestone in my recovery, June also signaled the start of summer. As I've grown older, I seem to enjoy the long days and warm weather of the season more and more. Now that I'm weight-bearing, I'm more ancy than ever to take advantage of the abundant outdoor opportunities that CO has to offer.

 

Also worth noting this month is the Penguin's Stanley Cup win for the second year in a row! I may never return to live in Pittsburgh, but I will always be proud knowing where I come from.

Finally, my hunt for CO breweries has now reached #40, with Park Hill's Fiction Beer Company, Golden's New Terrain Brewing Company, and Boulder's Mountain Sun, Upslope Brewing Company, and Wild Woods Brewery.

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