Healing

I've been in physical therapy three times a week since my cast came off, and a sturdy brace when I leave the house (or overuse the wrist at home). It's definitely getting better and stronger. So am I, mentally and emotionally.

It amazes me how big an impact this injury had on me in every way, not just physically. I suppose that is part of the aging process, but I think it also is becoming more aware of how every part of your body and mind affects every other part: injury to body or spirit is injury to both.

I'm grateful that the wrist is healing well and that I have as much mobility as I do even now, and that is with much more therapy to come. I'm grateful for competent medical facilities and doctors and therapists, and grateful that we can afford healthcare.

I continue to be outraged at the struggle to get a healthcare bill passed in the Congress, however, and at the callous disregard of so many Congressional representatives for the "little" people in our country -- those who do not have insurance and who cannot afford it or who cannot qualify for it under the dictatorship of our insurance companies.

In e-mail, I received a missive titled 'How to Fix Congress,' and while I have respect for the elected office, I am more disillusioned about the ethics and simple humanity of the people who occupy Congressional seats. While the suggestions in this idea will never happen, it certainly might improve life for hundreds of thousands of Americans if it did -- not, however, Congress.

Spring begins officially on Saturday, but our harbinger tree started popping its leaves last week, even amid the copious hail that whitened the ground and collected in the hollows last Monday, and that dropped our temperatures abruptly to the upper 40s. We had bits of sunshine but cooler temperatures. This week we will have days in the 70s, which will pop out all the leaves. It's not the end of rain and cool here, but it likely will slow down. I'm not ready for warm again quite yet -- I really relish the woodstove fires and the cool, rainy days. At least we've had a lot of rain this winter, unlike the last several, which I hope will help cut down on the wildfires this summer.

Friends and family are still struggling with health or business issues, and it is hard to hear and to see because there really is nothing more that any of them can do than what they are already doing. I know economic recovery is supposed to be happening, but it sure hasn't hit people I care about yet, or at least it doesn't appear to be enough to turn around faltering businesses. I guess it is just one day at a time for all of us. What more can you do?

Easter is approaching too, and while it has been a long time since I was part of a church, it is still a time for new beginnings and second chances -- new life, renewal, rebirth.
Spring cleaning is no accident -- washing windows, cleaning closets and -- yes -- offices to sort through the old and broken and unused, cleaning out the clutter.

Works with life too -- that clutter and sorting. I'm deep into Martha Beck again, this time Steering By Starlight, and her words are all about finding your own stargazer, the part of you that is your true self. It is a challenge to read, but food for the mind and the soul.