Dear friends,The Dynasplint is in hand. This high tech elbow bender (and straightener) is the invention of someone who carted their extra brains around in a wheelbarrow and used them for some good. This thing is supposed to stretch the tendons and ligaments in Steve's elbow, much the same way a rubber band on your visor stretches if you leave it there all summer. It's an attempt to get the elbow stretched enough so it doesn't automatically "bounce back" to its resting position. The ideal: Wear it 8 hours while sleeping. The reality: Do the best you can. It's on the lowest setting right now, and as Smitty tolerates it with time, we'll crank it up a notch to extend the stretch. He's got it til May, so let's see how it goes.
Now you knew I was going to find some kind of allegory here, right? I'm thinking, I need a Dynasplint for my spiritual tendons! Gotta get the old, stiff, "religious" ways behind me, and stretch out to the pure freedom of an authentic relationship with my Great Father. To walk with Him every hour of every day. To see Him in every person, and to treat every person as I would Him. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to give us true power for living this life, and there's no one more vested in stretching us to our greatest measure of abundant life. Now. Not when everything is "ok". Not when we get the right job or our kids do this or that, or we get the new house, or we go on vacation. The abundant life is about today! It's an inside job. May the Great One help us to live it... I'm first on the needy list!
David had a rough go today. Rotten cold, loose brace, trip to the orthodontist. On the bright side, he really wanted me to read him a Dr. Seuss book. You know happiness when your 12 year old snuggles with you while you read really silly rhymes. My favorite Seuss is of course, Green Eggs and Ham. There are great intellectual debates that rage every day over which book is the pinnacle of Seussdom. What do you think? David's favorite: There's a Wocket in My Pocket". Smitty's favorite: Yertle the Turtle. My teenagers refused to take the survey. The Grinch rocks the funhouse for holiday reading, and I remember loving Fox in Socks when I was a kid. Ted Geisel (Dr. Suess) grew up where I did- Springfield, Massachusetts. Also home to the Basketball Hall of Fame, which I have never visited. Anyway, I like to pretend I was born in New York. I sure feel like I was. You'de need dynamite to blast me out of this state, despite it's many flaws.
Hercules has a cold too, his first since the accident. Thanks be to God, he didn't get sick all those months in the hospital, when Swine Flu was on the rampage. When you think of all the bullets we dodged, you've got to be humbled. The prayers were like suits of armor. We were protected a thousand times from infection, amputation, memory loss, death... Believe me, I am humbled. And I want to stay that way, for the rest of my life. Pride and arrogance are the enemies I fear more than any others. (Fear is right up there too). Thankfully, my daily bumblings keep me (I hope!) from those formidable foes.
By the way, "I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I am..."
Your friend on the egg-free pilgrim road,
Loriann
5 comments:
Just tell Steve to think of himself as Uncle Fester in the Adams Family when he would put himself on the contraption that would stretch his whole body! Maybe that will give him a few chuckles as he winces through the stretching of his elbow. He certainly has been the contraption guy. Between the fixator, the wheel chair, and this Dyna-thing, he should be renting himself out to these companies as a model while he's using them. Think of it like wearing haute couture by a great designer who asks you to wear his clothing to advance his career (by the way, Steve, you look stunning in your Dyna-thing!)
Well, that's my chuckle for the day. Love you all, and hoping your sick guys are better soon. I've got two sick ones myself - pink eye for Brian and a sinus infection for Abbey. Fun week. I've spent more in copays than you this week! Then the water company guys came this morning to find that I have a leak in my toilet, and that's why my water bill was $316.00 this quarter!!! That's double what it usually is. Fun.
Hey, when Steve's done with that thing, do you think it will fit on my spirit?
XXOO Mar
Never mind green eggs, Loriann - you don't even like the normal color ones! : ^ )
Love you, Stephen
kev made me green eggs for breakfast today for st.patricks day :) what a guy! my fav dr.suess book currently 'Oh the Places You'll Go' fav.quote from said book 'so...be you name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places! Today is you day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!'
praying for you guys -
sarah keparutis
Quickie editing comment- Seuss/Geisel---Sorry,I'm just a spelling nut. On a very positive note-it is truly an amazing God who is working in your family(and all of us,too). " A Wordie Wench"
Sorry for the spelling errors! I'm usually pretty good, but some nights it's just like that. I fixed em up.
Sarah and MaryAnn- Simply put, you cracked me up.
Smitty, you know me all too well...No eggs for me.
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