This Time Last Year

Check out Two Writing Teachers for more Slice of Life stories;
you might even consider adding your own!

This time last year, I was recovering from shoulder surgery. My new friend was the Game Ready ice and compression system rented for the first month of recovery. An anchor, two knots and a reshaped clavicle--it was painful--twelve weeks of physical therapy and I can finally reach behind my back (hook a bra) and raise my right arm (though it's a little off to the right and not next to my ear). I am grateful for my arms.

I cropped out the inside my should pictures...fascinating stuff. 

This time last year, I was hours out of surgery. I wrote the last eleven slice of life posts for my students ahead of time (I posted a writing quote and an invitation everyday for them). I had scheduled most of my own slices too. I'd been writing double for days.

Not so this year. I am not writing ahead much,  if at all, and it feels so good to have the time and the two hands to write as each day comes. Some days ideas come late, others I've thought about since waking. For both, I am grateful. I do love playing with words. I don't take enough time to do it.

Injury and illness are part and parcel of living an active life. After four orthopedic injuries in four years, I've cut back a bit. I skate less. I exercise differently. I've had to face the idea that I cannot do some things that my muscle remember and know how to do. That's not been so fun. My body and I are still in negotiations. Like the district and our teachers' union, we've been dealing with an impasse.

I have brave students who face illness and injury each week. Facing the day--especially an academically charged day--when one is pain or not as mobile or balanced as "normal" takes dedication, and grit. These students focus on the future. They are unstoppable heroes among us. Students who stay in school with cancer and arthritis and epilepsy and even when pregnant. All stand up and muscle through. I see you and witness your strength.