Post Surgery Week 6: Livin' la Vida Loca (Vicariously)

Monday, July 1

It’s going on six weeks since my surgery, and my world is still mostly a six-foot diameter circle centered around the couch.  I’m still surrounded by an ice machine and (as a result of that ice machine) a fleece blanket, and bunches of pillows.  Water bottle, coffee mug, five remotes (don’t get me started), books, magazines, detritus of meals and snacks.  There’s also a heating pad for the parts of my left leg that don’t get the ice treatment.  A couple of harmonicas.  Multiple pairs of reading glasses. Mederma for the work I now do on the scar;  body lotion for the self-massages on my always-wants-to-cramp quad.  (The meds, which are gradually decreasing in numbers, migrated over onto the kitchen counter at some point in time.)  

One of Leann's cabin finds -
 near Harper's Ferry, WV, back in 2016

Mostly, I thank heavens for my Apple products:  laptop, ipad, and, of course, my iphone, largely for all the worlds that these products bring me, not least of which are the worlds I am experiencing vicariously.  So what if I can’t even walk to the street without crutches?  Who said that you need to experience La Vida Loca in person?  In the last several weeks, I’ve been traveling with friends, and sharing their crazy lives vicariously.

My friend Leann just graced me with a hiking trip to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park last week.  Never mind that it was a trip we were going to do together until my knee blew out.  Leann is a master of finding the coolest, most rustic, out of the way cabins, and the one she hiked into last week (with her sister taking my spot) looks like a gem, based on the Facebook photos.  I’m gonna have to convince her to do a repeat performance once I’m able-bodied again.

The Danube Bend, 2017 (a view that required a hike
that I *will* be able to do again!).
That boat on the water?  Same one that Molly & Don
lived on this year.

My friends Molly and Don and their adult kids Katie and Jack just arrived back in Colorado from a two week trip down and up the Danube.  They took the same bike-and-barge trip that Ed and I took a couple of years ago - choosing the two week version instead of our single week - and, oh, how I wished we were with them.  Molly kept me entertained with texts and photos from along the way, and Katie added joy to my days by posting family - and scenic - photos on FB during the two weeks.  I’m devastated that they’re back now, and my virtual trip on the Danube is done for the year.

My friend (and one of the best bosses I ever had) Geoff is on a two months long road trip with his teenage son.  They’re living the Sprinter life, riding classic biking trails throughout the eastern half of the US.  What an adventure - even if their planned ride on the Katy Trail across Missouri was just cut short by the massive flooding in that state.

Kathy, one of the first friends I made when I moved to Denver all those years ago, stopped by yesterday for a long afternoon visit.  She brought a library in a shopping bag:  all good options from her bookshelves for me to read while she and her husband Lorenz head to Australia in a few days for a month long trip.  Can you paint me jealous?  At least until she assured me that Lorenz will share his trip journal along the way.  That helps assuage some of the envy for that trip, as well as the trip they’ll make to Spain just a month or so after they get home from Down Under.

And speaking of Spain, there’s my niece Natasha and her family - husband John and their two boys.  John grew up in Spain, and after a family trip there last summer to immerse the boys in Spanish culture and let them get acquainted with the Spanish side of the family, they decided that they loved the experience so much that they’ve sold their house, quit jobs, and are heading to Spain indefinitely in a few weeks.  John’s a faithful poster on FB, so I’ll get to be there with them, at least in spirit.  Here’s hoping that even if they stay for many years, I’ll be able to travel and have a bit of La Vida Loca with them in person in a year or two.

If I keep up with Facebook, I find all kinds of other adventures.  Marilyn's non-stop trips, the latest to monitor turtles on the East Coast.  Jay and (newly retired) JoAnn on a big western road trip.  Andrew and Rose on a southern California adventure; Doug and Kathy on a wintry summer camping trip in the high country of Colorado; and on and on and on.

My own bit of La Vida Loca today is limited to my trip to see Lindsey, and to (oh, hope, hope, hope, pray, pray, pray) get approved for a bit more activity.  I’ve already let go of my regret that we won’t be using our Red Rocks tickets for tonight.  That’s okay, really:  Red Rocks just isn’t forgiving when it comes to the need for mobility.  But the friends we were going with?  I’m counting on them to share a photo or two of the crowds so I can - just a little bit - share in the fun vicariously.  In the meantime, I'm wearing my Grand Canyon t-shirt today that proclaims "I hiked rim to rim".   Damn right, and there's no doubt that I'm gonna do that again - just maybe not this summer!