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It’s Saturday morning and I’m up early with just the dogs and me. It is the first time in weeks that I’ve been well enough to trust my ankle and the dogs in the yard without back up. Two things have changed. One, Pippin’s recall has become damn near rock solid. Two, my ankle is improving. So, an early morning with the house quiet and no one to worry about but me, and the dogs. They circle around my chair wanting me to feed them right now, please. I tell them wait until I’ve has had one cup of caffeine, please. I win the debate because as pack leader it’s really not a debate, and I have opposable thumbs. Doorknobs and can openers do not puzzle me.

For those of you who saw me on tour with my cane, you may be wondering how have I made this rapid improvement. I went to a good doctor and she assured me that I would not reinjure or make the injury worse by simply walking on it. Stay off of it when I could, and no walking for exercise, and no running at all, but stop babying it. She didn’t say it that way, that was my interpertation. She prescribed more aggressive physical therapy and more aggressive pain meds. It was only pain, not me making the injury worse, so with that medical advice I ditched the cane and started relearning how to walk. There’s always a transition with canes or crutches, if you’ve used them long enough, where you walk funny because your muscles have forgotten how to walk without the aid. I had a few days of a really spectacular limp, then gradually I began to walk. Yesterday I walked normally and the pain has gone down every day, for the most part. I take good pain meds at night for sleep, but I cannot write or even function if I take them during the day, so it’s an emergency need kind of thing. So far, I’ve waited every day for bedtime, when it’s okay to fall asleep or giggle helplessly until you pass out. My reward for this week of effort is that I have the house to myself. Well, me and the dogs, who have settled down to nap in the sun while I consume my caffiene. Jon is still asleep upstairs, because putting up with me while I’m hurt deserves a reward, too. Part of that is he gets to sleep in on a Saturday morning for the first time in months. I actually woke up this morning earlier than our alarm goes off during the week. I lay there, cuddled against his warmth and thought, "Why am I awake?"

The answer was, "Because I wanted to be, because I could feel the writing moving liquid in my head, and I wanted to be up and moving." I’m actually back in a pair of shoes I haven’t been able to wrap around my ankle in weeks. I may have to change part way through the day, but so far, so good. I am enjoying the silence, and the patient dogs in their sunshine naps. I’ll finish this, twitter, take care of the dogs out, then go to my office and see what else the day holds.