With A Little Help From My Friends

It's amazing how time can fly by, when one is just laying around.


For the first 4 weeks after I broke my femur, I lay in bed while Steve made me de-caf and fruit salad for breakfast, while he took the dogs out and dumped my porta-potty, while he made sure I had a phone within reach,  then rushed around frantically trying to get on with his own day.  When Steve would leave the house, various friends were scheduled to come by and  "baby-sit."  I was overwhelmed with gratitude that friends went out of their way to visit with me, bring food, help make my bed, wash my hair, sweep my floors, do rieki treatments, and cheer me up!  I was completely dependent on others, and the friends and neighbors who helped were a Godsend.  We had more gatherings at our house during those 4 weeks then we'd had in the previous two years.  A game of Balderdash one night, a writer's round another.  It was great to have parties delivered to our home. 


I couldn't get enough of Facebook, and the feeling of connectedness it  provided, or all of the "how to heal a broken femur" blogs I found comfort in.  Most of my mornings were spent on-line, most afternoons were spent visiting with friends who came by with food, and most of my evenings were spent watching re-runs of "Bones" and "Glee".  I was rarely bored.  I was in pain, but the days went by quickly. 


For some reason, I couldn't get into reading the piles of books that friends brought by.  I talked about writing some songs with people, but I couldn't seem to stir up the creative juices for songwriting either, although I only tried twice.  I stopped doing my morning journaling, my writing was reduced to 3 line haikus posted on Facebook.  I was beating myself up for not being creative with all this time on my hands.  I wasn't being productive either.  I wasn't able to generate any income from my real estate business.

The loss of my routine was very unsettling to me.  My ideal routine over the past several years has been to get up by 7:00 a.m., go outside with my dogs, journal for about an hour while I drank coffee,  walk the dogs, then start my business day either with real estate (since 2008) or with the music business.  I didn't have time to "waste" hours lounging around on facebook, visiting with friends and watching T.V. 

Now at 7 weeks into this broken leg recovery, I've settled into my current life of leisure.  A dear friend of mine, Brian Beltran, who I have known since I was 4 years old, came out from Portland, Oregon, and moved into our home 3 weeks ago to help with cleaning, driving me to appointments, taking me to the store, and just about everything else I need.  He has fashioned a work-able wheelchair ramp,  set me up on Skype, organized the pantry, re-arranged all of our paintings, cleaned out our bookshelves, and become the entertainment coordinator with his Camera and his Netflix account!

With the house more orderly, I've surrendered into letting the time go by.  I'm forced to heal, and it will take however long it takes.  Suddenly, the creative juices are beginning to trickle out.

I'm getting by with a little help from my friends!