Part 3 of my “journal” related to my Lisfranc injury to my left foot.
December 25, 2020
Merry Christmas!
After I got home from Florida, I did manage to get out to see my kids and grandkids, but it wasn’t for long. Then it was back to the recliner and stay put.
When Christmas Day rolled around, the plan was to have the family get together at my son & daughter-in-law’s house. I was looking forward to it, but I had some mixed feelings.
Yes, I was already having some cabin fever issues and I was ready to spend a day doing something… anything… other than watching TV. I was looking forward to spending time with the family, but I was also a little uncertain about how I was going to handle being out and about all day. It was only five days post-surgery, after all.
My mom lives about an hour away and my wife and I needed to drive to pick her up, bring her back to the Holiday gathering, then take her home again afterward. In between all of that, of course, would be celebrating the day with the kids and grandkids, opening gifts, having dinner and all that goes with a family Holiday. I don’t mind admitting that it felt a little daunting going in.
I shouldn’t have worried though. It went fine. We piled me into the back seat of my wife’s SUV and off we went to get my mother. The ride didn’t really phase me at all.
The day itself was great. I obviously was limited in how much moving around I could do, but that’s ok.
One thing you figure out when you raise kids is that time just flies by so fast. One day, they’re going to their first day of school and it feels like the next day they’re all grown up and you’re wishing you had found a way to enjoy those things like holidays and birthdays and everything else just a little bit more.
Then you get grandkids and you get a chance to do it all over again and do it right this time. Savor every opportunity you get, even if they aren’t as often as you’d sometimes like and you probably wouldn’t have the energy to keep up with them even if you did have more opportunities.
Anyway, I also made it through the trip to take my mother home and get back home myself. I will confess I was awfully tired by the time I got home, but the effort was well worth it.
Then, two weeks later, I got to do it all over again.
Well, not exactly all over again. But I got out for another family gathering, this time it was to celebrate my granddaughter’s second birthday.
It was a much shorter outing (no trip to get my mother, for one thing… sorry mom). Just pasta and presents over at the son and daughter-in-law’s. And an ice cream cake, of course!
Again, it was really nice to get out for a while and seeing the family makes it all the better.
Other than the birthday party, it was another stretch of the “recliner and TV” routine. Of course, in this age, we also have social media and, being on Facebook and Twitter, that means I’m never really more cut off from society than I choose to be.
With the computer on one side of the recliner and with a smartphone always on my person (in case I do something stupid like fall off my knee-scooter and need to call for help), it’s easy to keep up with the news (notwithstanding how depressing that can be), share the joys and frustrations of being a Twins/Vikings/Hawkeyes fan with those online communities and keep in regular touch with the family.
I also had plenty of time to get an article written on the sad state of the relationship between Major League Baseball and their minor league affiliate organizations for the 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook*.
I’ve written an article (and provided a number of photos of Twins minor leaguers) for the authors of that book for several years and I wasn’t sure I was going to get an article done in time for their publication deadline this year. Then, just like that, I found myself with nothing but free time.
Maybe now I should start a novel.
*If you’re interested in reading my article on the MLB/MiLB conflict and/or learning everything you might want to know about the Minnesota Twins minor leaguers, click here to get access to the links to purchase the book. You can pick it up in eBook PDF format or as a hardcopy paperback book.