Saturday, March 1, 2008

Knee Sundae with Whipped Cream and a Cherry on Top


A friend of mine gave me that card. Isn't it great? Now, I will admit to having felt picked on in the past few months, and to having been sorely tempted on numerous occasions to fall into that old yucky Victim mentality. But I've decided that whoever is doing the picking knows exactly what they're doing. Me? I'm just gonna relax.

I'm far enough away from the surgery now, and dealing with enough less pain to realize the absurdities and blessings that have occurred from this unplanned interruption in my life. My mom and sister, Pam, arrived the day before surgery. Mom flew back to Georgia last Sunday and Pam just left this (Sat.) morning. Dad got here yesterday and will stay until I feel comfortable driving myself again. They're doing me in shifts. I'm sure this is for their sanity as well as mine and is just a brilliant plan.

While I'm definitely ready for some alone time, I sure did hate to see Pam go. I've only known her for 44 years, but I learned something about Pam I never knew: in her daily life she's a school-bus driver - a no-nonsense benevolent dictator with the kids on her bus and the lung power to be heard over 20 or 30 of them. But by night I think she's a frustrated Florence Nightingale. She patiently fetched me water, food, and anything else I needed, washed my hair, did the grocery shopping, rented movies for us to watch, drove me back and forth to doctor's appointments and physical therapy, and generally took excellent care of me. And I only had to nudge her a little to keep the floor swept and the dishes washed. I'm really lucky to have the relationships I do with my sisters and I appreciate them more and more.

Speaking of physical therapy, I've decided it takes a special kind of person to deliver such torture all the while convincing you it's for your own good. I hit the jackpot with my physical therapist as he looks like this guy and despite myself I find I kinda look forward to PT. Wouldn't you? It's great to have something nice to look at when you're being twisted, and stretched, and prodded and pushed and you know you're going to hurt like hell when it's over.

You might call all that stuff one flavor of ice cream in this scrumptious little sundae I'm making. The whipped cream?

On Monday, three days after surgery, my co-workers, Peggy & Tom, showed up at my house with a letter. The letter was from my employer of the past two and a half years, and in its entirety read: "Due to seniority, you are laid off effective March 1, 2008." It had postage on it and was ready to mail which is exactly what that cowardly lion was going to do.

The cherry?

I can't seem to make myself unhappy about it. As a matter of fact, my sundae is covered with a mound of cherries on top. I'll tell you more about them in upcoming posts.
Thanks to all of my blogging friends for the great support and encouragement. It is appreciated!

11 comments:

Olivia said...

Angela, I'm glad your turning lemons into lemonade! Can't wait to hear about your "sundae"! Healing wishes, O

Carolyn said...

Your strength still continues to amaze me, instead of drinking you are facing this, if only I could know how...
Take care of yourself,
Carolyn

Angela said...

Carolyn,

I'm doing it one breath at a time. Thank you for visiting.

Always good to see you, O!

Rick Hamrick said...

Angela, it's good to hear that you are now in less pain than right after the surgery. It's great to hear of the support of your family, and how perfectly suited for the nurse's roll your sister is! The, um, nurse who does floors...can't seem to find that in the yellow pages!

I hope you saved the stamp from the "dear Angela" letter from your employer. It's worth 41 cents more than your employer's no-good, chicken-sh|t *ss is worth. Okay...back to being centered in love...

It will be amazing what you accomplish next, once you let the physical therapist out of the room where you keep him locked up for safe-keeping.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that guy's timing sure sucks. I'm glad you're looking at the bright side.

R.L. Bourges said...

angela: you keep your eyes on that PT of yours because he sure seems to be the best part of what's raining down on you right now. Sending my best; my best is a bit ragged right now but for what it's worth, you're welcome to some of it :-)

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful, Angela. And I, for one, am so glad you're shut of that employer!

And sisters are the best. That's all there is to it!

Angela said...

Hey All,

Thanks for your comments. Yeah, employer's timing sucks, and PT makes at least three days of the week brighter!

A

bella said...

Good for you for keeping your sense of humor. It goes a long way.
That pretty much sucks about your job .
But I'm happy to hear you're being so well cared for.
Thinking of you.

thailandchani said...

Glad to catch up with you and know you are doing okay.. even with the *OUCH* :)

I'm also glad to know you will be ordering the book. Your thoughts on it will be very interesting.

Heal well :)


~Chani

Unknown said...

"It's great to have something nice to look at when you're being twisted."

Ooh, that could be interpreted in so many different ways! Take care during your recuperation.