Sep

Mom and I today...I'm having a bad hair day!

Well, it’s day 6 of sitting and staring at the walls (and some lovely flowers given to me yesterday by my unit). I went to the doctor on Monday and I have been given 30 days off work. Oh boy. It’s going to be a long month. And although I’m still in a ton of pain, my main concern is becoming the amount of wear on my bum! And despite plenty of entertainment from novels, letters (Ben sends them weekly…more on that in tomorrow’s post), television (oh Glee cast…I’m so happy you’re back!), and work on my university courses, I find I’m going stir crazy. Rapidly.

My parents arrived on Monday to take over the duty of my care and I felt overwhelmingly happy to see them. Why is it that we always crave our parents when we’re hurting, adult or not? I’m also so grateful to have the parents that I do. Dad has a way of making me feel that everything will be okay and Mom has a way of making the world laugh and feel at ease. They are genuinely lovely people who are still madly in love with each other.

However, as usual, they instantly went into parent mode. Dad immediately hired some drywall guys to repair my ceiling. Mom is scrubbing at carpet stains and complaining about my lack of dusting. As we speak, Dad has his head stuck under my kitchen sink and is grumbling, “Why does she have grass seed under here? Who needs ice melter in the middle of the summer?” I’m resisting all urges to scream out that I leave them there because I CAN! It’s easy! I’m a grown up! And it’s MY house!!!

Here’s the thing about my parents and perhaps arguably all parents: Sometimes they forget that I’ve lived alone, relatively successfully, since I was 18. Then again, perhaps I’ve forgotten how nice it feels to be looked after. And in reality, it’s my own frustration that is putting me slightly on edge. And all this sitting has given me itchy feet. I crave walking, skipping, standing and best of all…DANCING. Alas, those days are a ways ahead of me.

So here I sat today, admittedly getting a little whiney because of pain and then I had a bit of a revelation. I may be in pain. I may miss Ben. I may never get better. But there are so many people out there who have it so much worse. So many of my military comrades are now missing their limbs and will never walk again. I might be in pain but I WILL walk again. So many never will.

That thought alone was enough to instantly make me feel a bit better.

Kelly

Under Fire