A Journey to Gratitude

 A Journey to Gratitude

The tower crumbled. Well, a small one - me. Let me explain.  I wanted some exercise, so I decided to take my four-mile walk from home, crossing the Fox River twice, outbound and inbound, and returning home. It was my favorite walk, but this time it was a learning experience as well. After all, when a tower crumbles, it has impact.

I had no idea what I would encounter on this sunny day. The walk, initially, was uneventful.  Despite the nice December weather, I encountered few fellow walkers. One I remember was a  woman walking her dog. She and I crossed paths twice. The second time evoked a joke, something like “we meet again.” I cracked a smile, and down the road, I went. At about three miles in, I began to notice fatigue that I hadn’t before on this walk. The top half of me wanted to press on, but the legs were starting to balk. At last I turned down our street, and got within sight of our home, when my right leg buckled.  I fell into the ditch, my legs tangled in a knot. Laughing, I tried pulling myself up on a lamp post to no avail. I called my wife Patti, and she arrived in a minute. She and a passer-by tried to get me upright, but, with the pain, I couldn’t stand. Patti, a medical professional who has dealt with many emergencies, saw one before her, and called the ambulance. At the hospital, they found that this old tower had broken one of its foundations, a fractured hip joint. Surgery to rebuild it followed, along with physical therapy, and a brief hospital stay. 

This experience was little more than three weeks ago. In my recovery I’ve had plenty of time to peruse what it means for me - what lesson I needed to learn - and I have arrived at this: gratitude for all the care I received from medical staff, and especially from the best caregiver in the world, my wife Patti. It was one thing for a tower to crumble, yet another for it to be rebuilt. I am forever thankful.