Sylvia's Journal

I woke up with an image that looked like a computer screen with sentences running, telex style, along the lower side that I could actually read, word by word. It was remarkable because all my dreams are in images. If I had not fallen asleep again I would have been able to remember but now I can’t. What I do remember is that some of the words seemed, even in my half awakened state, nonsense and some were, to my great surprise, totally intelligible. Now I wished I had not fallen asleep again, as I am very curious about the message that was telexed in from my unconscious.

Today is the day after Labor Day. It is back-to-work day. We are also gearing up for the presidential election a few months from now. I am gearing up as well. The suitcase is half packed. My MSH Outlook box has several hundreds of emails to sort through; the documents I have to read are in my hand luggage, waiting for attention during my 8 hour layover in Paris. The vacation is over and I am on my way out, on the 5:30, to Paris today. I have no regrets and am very grateful for this first vacation I had since last July which is among the best I remember.

We celebrated the end of our vacation with a beach fire. It was a 10+ night – a clear sky filled with stars, planes taking people home, the occasional satellite and one falling star, accompanied by my wish on its way down. Joe had gone off to bed, having burned himself out with last week’s intense work. Tessa and Steve joined us later, hoping to find s’mores but there were none, only two squares of chocolate and a small glass of cognac. They stayed for awhile and we talked about nothing and everything, as one does around a fire. Puppy Chicha came along too and showed that she can retrieve sticks even at night and we kept sending her off in the dark. As only a dog would do, she kept bringing the stick back over and over again.

Yesterday, I started preparing for my trip while Axel and Joe sat in front of their computers taking care of stuff. After lunch we could no longer stay inside and kayaked/rowed to Tuck’s Point in Manchester’s harbor. We set out against the wind and through choppy waters which made the return trip fast and splashy. At the outer harbor we watched a stream of sailboats leave for the open waters or return home. When you are on the water you also have a front seat to see million dollar houses being built or remodeled along the water’s edge. We felt very small amidst the large luxury boats and MacMansions, but also quite content with our share of the bounty.

In the afternoon we drove to Brookline, alongside much homebound traffic, to say goodbye to colleague Miho who is off to Washington (State) to pursue her MPH and to congratulate Chris and Kairos once more on their June marriage. It was nice to see colleagues and ex colleagues again and find out who had been doing what and where. Many had not seen us for some time and commented on our physical fitness. It’s true that you cannot tell how crippled we were only a year ago. Today Axel is shipping back a torture like apparatus that he had rented many months ago to flex his wrist. He’s done with it now and his guitar-strumming of yesterday proved it.

Still, we are not quite there yet, if we ever are. I am seeing the doctor later this morning with a list of several body parts that need attention, sacrum, ankle, toes, and wrists. The carpal tunnel surgery that was scheduled a week after the crash, is needed again as the rowing had made abundantly clear. I enter this fall with two surgeries on the horizon that will put a temporary halt to my progress and interfere with writing (right wrist) and walking (right ankle). It’s hard to select a date for these interventions which cannot be done at the same time, each require a certain length of time for recovery adding up to several months in total.