Sylvia's Journal

Yesterday was long, exhausting and wonderful. I’d do it again but not right away. I left the house at 6 AM and pulled up at home exactly 12 hours later. Getting up early was not hard for me; I am an early riser. But it was hard for Axel. He did not have to get up but he insisted on making my breakfast. The drive in to work was OK although longer than I remember, over one hour. Somehow since July the traffic seems to have increased at that time of the day. Being at work with the early risers was nice. Then slowly everyone trickled in and there were more ‘hey you’re back!’ and the surprised look how together I look. I am not sure what people were expecting, but it is true that, with my scars covered up and when I am not walking, I look like a slightly more slender version of my pre-July 14 self.

I had a wonderful time with the team of facilitators. The sort of coaching I was engaged in yesterday is one of the things I love to do and had missed doing. It was the reason I came in for this very long day and why I had dismissed counsel to stay at home. Ready or not, I had been home long enough. Writing and reviewing, writing emails and being on the phone, all things I can do at home, are good ways to be involved and participate in the work, but it is not where I get my jollies. This is also why I agreed to travel again, even though I am a little anxious about it and there are voices again who advise me not to do this yet.

The hardest part of yesterday was actually the ride back. I would have liked a driver to be sitting outside the doors of MSH ready to drive me home. Alas, no one there. I hit the traffic of course at 5 PM so it was a slow start. I wore the wrong shoes for my neuropathic foot and pushing the gas pedal for one hour was very uncomfortable (not dangerous). The first thing I did when I came home was a long footbath followed by an icepack. That calmed things down while we had a wonderful speakerphone conversation with Tessa, sitting around the table as if she was with us. We even had a plate for her. It’s when we had to disappoint her that there would not be a puppy when she’d come back for Christmas.

In the middle of the day I was alerted by colleagues that a new entry had appeared in the Caringbidge journal. It was indeed Axel’s although not, as I had expected, typed in by the computer via Axel’s voice. He is still training his computer and gave me a little demo last night. It is truly amazing, and yes Edith, you are right, it has come a long way, since you worked at Kurzweil Speech Systems, but not quite as long as you thought.

In the evening we watched the videotaped interview that Jim Wiegel and his wife Judy did with us on September 6 for their ICA story legacy project. The beginning part is with both of us on camera. We were astounded to see how broken Axel still looked then, only a few weeks out of the hospital. It is when I see him squinting on camera that I realized he has not done this for a long time. It is easy to understand the exclamations from people who have not seen him in along time; he has come a long way. I watched myself in fascination as I told my ICA stories and explained my philosophy of working with groups. I noticed the fidgeting and constant movements of my arms, hands and legs while in my wheelchair. Part two of the video is about the aftermath of the crash; a related topic since it is still about groups (networks) being productive. Axel had left by then so last night was the first time he saw it. It is an amazing record of the first 6 post-crash weeks and we are very grateful to have it.

I have posted the pictures that Sita took of our ‘Thank-God-We-Are-Alive’ party that was held on August 26, on my flickr website (go to Caringbridge ‘links’ tab and click on http://www.flickr.com/vriesneus). You will see various subsets of our network mingle on a warm overcast August day as well as the remnants here and there of Fatou’s great food.

Axel still needs rides for a while longer (announced on the Airset calendar, another link). We appreciate everyone who has stepped forward.