Gradually Returning to "Normal"

Bouquet of hydrangeas from our garden. with still life added by Tom 

Today it has been six weeks since my spine surgery. We marked that milestone by making a trip into the medical center to see my surgeon, who gave me a passing grade. We celebrated by making a stop at Starbucks for a latte and chocolate. It has been a long haul, but I have the go ahead to lead a bit more of a normal life. My one big restriction is no lifting of more than ten pounds. I will gradually increase my range of motion, based on what is comfortable. I might even be able to tie my shoes before too long.

Those tools I bought a while back have been handy. I still use the sock slider, the long handled shoe horn, and the grabber. My slip on sneakers have been great for wearing in the house. I only need help tying my walking shoes.

Walking is coming along. I started last week with walking up to Safeway, to the blue mail box, which was still there. I had to laugh at this Map My Walk report. The wobbly line was kind of how I felt.

Yesterday I was up to over a mile and a half. My surgeon is encouraging me to press on, for a goal of an hour of walking a day. 

Last week we watched all of the Democratic National Convention. It left me feeling hopeful. Yesterday, because we like to get our news first hand, we watched the opening night of the Republican Convention. It left me feeling a bit fearful. There is still a chance that Trump could be reelected. I guess it depends somewhat on who actually believes the stuff being claimed and proclaimed. I'm sure the fact checkers were kept busy. We'll watch more tonight, but maybe not the complete coverage. It's hard to take. 

Dahlias from the garden

Sunday we went into the city to see Jake. We spent several hours in his yard, with a take out lunch, enjoying conversation. It was good to get away from home and see our son, who continues to do well. He has some time off from his "essential job" as a surveyor and is on his way to Whidbey Island to spend some down time at the cabin. The weather is mild and lovely right now. 

Jill started school this week, with two days of teacher's meetings via zoom. Students will have several days for orientation next week and then on line classes start Sept. 8th. It looks like there will be much more direct instruction this fall, as opposed to the looser structure last spring. 

The Major League Soccer season has restarted, with games announced a few at a time, played in empty stadiums. We geared up to watch our Sounders on TV on Sunday night defeat our Portland rivals, 3-0. It felt great to cheer them on again. 

So, yes, I am working on returning to normal, as normal as that can be in this time of COVID. Tom has been working in the raspberry patch, cutting out old canes. I'll go check on him and then settle down to do some reading for the rest of the afternoon. Since we were busy this morning, we'll go for my walk this evening. We can record some of the RNC and then zoom through it when we get back. There might be "highlights".