Sylvia's Journal

We are doing a lot of work these days. I don’t mean house work, that too is happening but we are not the ones doing it, nor is work that produces a salary, although I am starting to do this very modestly this week. Our work these days is working our bodies. Axel has already been doing increasingly intense physical therapy with his left arm. I started physical therapy yesterday and I am busy working my right foot, ankle, Achilles tendon and hamstring; hard work with very little progress at first. It also is not the kind of work that you can check of a list, since it is, for now, without end. We are also tending our bruised and damaged nerves. My right foot nerves appear to be in a perpetual heightened state of alert, as if I am still in the middle of the accident. Sita constructed a safe haven for them using a cardboard box. When I go to bed now I put my right foot inside the box and it protects it from the weight and constant stimulation of sheets and blankets moving this way or that. It looks like a small animal shelter, with soft bedding and a roof.

One thing I am learning is that even very small amounts of wine do not go well with all this work. We are very tuned into our bodies and mine was protesting last night. I got the message; back to milk.

Abi came yesterday and gave both Axel and me a light massage called zero balancing. I emerged very relaxed to find that my (ex) colleague Chuck had arrived for ‘odd jobs’ and a chat about his future. He brought all sorts of goodies as well and moved the large piece of plastic to cover up the backyard weeds that had sprung up around it. While I was having lunch we talked about his next career move.

Arne, the director of the Beverly flight center came by to drop off the insurance papers so I could finally see what I am covered for and read the small print. We talked about accident-prone pilots and old stories about other plane mishaps; I am now part of a community of people who have crashed and got to tell the story. The check for a new plane is apparently in the mail and Arne is looking at a few good replacement candidates. When I am ready to fly again, there will be a shiny new (used) plane! With three accidents in his fleet (all during the Mercury in retrograde period!) he is doing a lot of business with the plane insurance company. We too got a call from our case manager in the morning and he has been very responsive and solicitous.

Axel’s and Jim’s big accomplishment for the day was getting a new inspection sticker for our car after ours had expired. This is one worry to drop from the worry list. After that they went for a ride searching for a good chunk of red meat which Axel had been craving. When they came back home Jim and Judy Wiegel arrived. We were on their camper route from Arizona to Newfoundland and back. Jim and I reacquainted last February at MSH in a leadership program and this time I got to meet his wife Judy. They are what I call ICA (Institute for Cultural Affairs) old timers; we have many friends in common as well as a general philosophy about how to work productively with groups to make the world a better place. We had a wonderful dinner together and discovered that Judy may have been in the same high school class as Jim’s dad. We also got our best friend Anzie (Dodge) from Newburyport on the phone with Jim; they worked together for ICA in the 80s. These overlapping circles don’t surprise us anymore. Even America is a small place!
Tessa called from Canada with a progress report about her nest building and her classes and all is going well. We saw the picture and noticed that she lives in a house that most of us don’t get to live in until we are well into our middle age. It seems to spur Sita on in her internet search for where to live after mom and dad can be independent again. She is looking for north in Maine, dreaming of a house on the water, while Jim rolls his eyes.

We are still looking for (light) night duty nursing on Saturday and Sunday (and possible tonight) while Sita and Jim are away. Anyone out there able to move in for a night, or two?