It took this experience to understand that when friends or acquaintances are doing their eight to twelve weeks in a cast for whatever reason, they need a hand and they need connection. It’s been fifteen days and I still often feel this claustrophobic panic spill over me on a regular basis. At those moments, I let the air out of my cast and pull it apart and gasp for breath.
I’m not writing about this experience because I am soliciting comfort, support, pity or even empathy…I’m writing because I find it all so surprising. I also think that the notion of “walking in the other person’s shoes” comes truly to mind. I’m being hard on myself for not always responding, with empathy and in a concrete way, to those who have endured the drawn out period of healing a fractured bone.
Stampede came to town…and Stampede left. I wouldn’t have known it as it seemed I was cloistered in my family room, to the point of even sleeping on this same level. It was a very hot spell for Calgary weather and so, to be honest, it was physically uncomfortable at night.
It was an absolute joy when first, my daughter, and then my friend, offered to take me out for pancakes at two of our pancake breakfasts.
I remembered bringing my children to these and even hosting my own over the years and so the experience brought up a lot of positive memories and let’s face it, everyone seems pretty happy at a Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast. I feel gratitude about these two experiences and while I was a true ‘hop-along’ and still had that sense of walking in a brick of dried cement, I also felt gratitude and I felt free.
Live music, line dancers and free thinking ladies.
The line moved along quickly.
Oakridge Co-Op was the first…and next, Greengate Garden Center.
