STORIES FROM THE FALL, Part 4: So there we were, suddenly coming alive!

February 22, 2024

 

See parts 1, 2, 3, last three days.

So there we were sitting in the somnambulistic waiting room, suddenly coming alive! Both of us excited and no doubt, noisy, likely making people nearby nosey.

“You know Perry?” She asked. “She was the one who told me about Jeff in the first place!”

Apparently, Jeff was quite a sight gliding down the law school halls that first semester, this 55 year old man built like a walrus and just as fluid. Brilliant. Wanting to engage with even more learning. Happy as a clam. The young students loved him.

Perry and her husband Herb were the first people I met in Bloomington. Knew her instantly. Jeff had been a fellow student with Herb at Princeton, and ended up a professor at IU.

When Jeff died of a heart attack in the early morning on January 4, 2003, who did I call for assistance? Perry and Herb.

So yes, I know Perry!

Leora then told me she was working at the law school at that time.

We went on and on about Jeff and Perry for quite a while, in same excited tones.

Then, during a rare pause, a woman sitting at the very end of our aisle by the windows spoke up.

“I also fell on the ice. Didn’t break my wrist but hurt my head and neck. I’m a physician, and I can’t believe they didn’t give me a collar to wear while sitting here for hours, waiting to get in. And the two of you should have been given ice, and please hold your wrists above your hearts!”

(to be continued )

 

 

Its only the sixth day of my pecking debilitude and life has slowed so much, with every daily task presenting one-handed difficulties, and having to clomp along on walks with puppy Shadow (three miles today!) in giant boots that don’t require laces, I’m feeling, suddenly, decidedly, and I hope temporarily, OLD.

 

 

STORIES FROM THE FALL, Part 3: Just then I suddenly broke the unspoken rule . . .

February 21, 2024

 

Just then  I suddenly I broke the unspoken rule not to speak to strangers in the Emergency waiting room.

“Wow! I too slipped on the ice and broke my wrist!”

And with that response, the prevailing frequency shifted, quickened. . .

She and I started talking, detailing our own falls, then segueing to Bloomington weather, frequency of icy streets, etc. I asked her how long she has lived here. All my life, she responded. “And you?”

I told her 20 years, that I got here because my 55-year-old husband Jeff wanted to go to law school and picked IU.

“WHAT? I KNOW HIM! I REMEMBER HIM!”

(to be continued)

 

Today, noon, surgery, uneventful. Home by 3 pm. The new splint frees my fingers, so can do much more than before. not type yet tho. still pecking.