Sylvia's Journal

Today it is exactly 6 weeks ago that we got up to drive to the Beverly Flight Center for our trip to Gardner and beyond. I can still feel the excitement. I can see myself walking to the car, swinging my flight bag onto the back seat. I revisit this mental image often because the start of that day was about pure joy: gorgeous summer weather, the anticipation of the freedom of the skies and being with people I love. Axel’s camera survived the crash and has the images that prove how joyful this occasion was, until that fatal moment. It is good that we cannot foretell our future.

Sita woke me up at 6:45 from my Benadryl-induced sleep to announce the good news that the work was done early and she got herself on an earlier flight home from Dallas. She is arriving before noon, rather than in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A potentially huge problem was averted by the combined efforts of neighbor Ted and his brother Jerry and, once again, plumber Jack Manderson who showed up within an hour of our distress call about a broken shower, leaking straight into the cellar. Even more so than the dishwasher (or the vacuum cleaner or anything else that has started to break down), our shower is hugely important. It keeps us from going rancid, especially in these hot and humid days, with our plastic shells, cast and the accumulation of sweat from all our exertions.

Tessa had decided it was time to take us on a field trip. When we left, the shower problem was still undiagnosed but Jack alerted and Ted on standby; when we came back some four hours later everything was fixed and back to normal and we can shower again. Such a miracle! We really intend to be ordinary customers of Jack but he keeps treating us as extra-ordinary!

Axel had his first visit to our regular family doctor and spent one and a half hour with the doctor adjusting medications, checking wounds, etc. He got all the attention he needed and he came back in high spirits. Imagine that, simply from a doctor’s visit! As reward for good behavior Tessa took us on a Cape Ann outing to Rockport where we visited D.J. in his leather shop. Inside, Tessa instantly transformed into a sales lady and fitted Axel with a pair of comfortable moccasins. I used my walker and it was fun to see the world from a standing position for the first time in nearly 6 weeks. The store is too small for a wheelchair but with a walker I can squeeze into tight places and even go up steps. More reward for good behavior: Tessa bought us an ice cream (we can have anything we want, the real stuff, full fat, any size!).

On the way back Axel and Tessa dropped me off (it is not quite as simple as dropping) at my new therapist’s office in Beverly Farms where I spent an hour and a half getting acquainted, testing our interpersonal chemistry (which was great) and filling in BCBS forms (“Have you had obsessive thoughts about sex lately?” No) Ruth Conway is a therapist trained in EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) which has been used successfully on people suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.. We already identified one obvious trigger for me (orange windsock) and I am looking forward to my next visit.

While I was with Ruth, Tessa, being the tireless social director, took Axel to the shopping center for an expansion of his rather limited wardrobe; things have to fit over his plastic carapace and not make him sweat. At first he refused to walk into the store. After all he looks rather peculiar: pants pulled up over his brace to nearly under his arms, a bright blue eye patch (all the new eye patches arrived) with little fish on it, a shaved head with a a huge scar, walking very slowly with an cane. He says it feels like walking into a public space without any clothes on. But no one looked, said Tessa.

In the evening our meal, a very local lamb curry with all the trimmings, was delivered by Ellie Cabot and her friend Richard. While the rest of the world was sweating profusely in hot and humid weather, we were eating our curry sitting in the cool breeze by the cove, until the mosquitoes chased us in. We finished our day by watching Little Miss Sunshine with Tessa who put us to bed way past our bedtime.