The gift of healing

As both of you know, I used to walk every damned day. (In fact, I used to run. Wow, was that ever a long time ago.) It resulted in absolutely ZERO pounds lost, but I felt like I was doing something good for myself, and walking is my intentional activity of choice.

I took my BlackBerry with me and posted a daily walk photo to Facebook, to 'prove' I'd taken a walk. Y'all wouldn't ever know or probably even care if I'd driven to that spot and snapped a photo, but I can be trusted to not cheat. If I walk, I post a picture. If I post a picture, I took it while walking.

There haven't been any pictures cluttering my Facebook feed for a while – since October 9, if I'm sorting my uploads correctly. That feels about right to me. It was sometime in October when I first noticed the sharp pain in my right heel. I tried to ignore it but, having experienced plantar fasciitis before, I knew what was happening and I knew what to do.

When I was running it was so, so hard to stop and give my foot the rest it needed. I love to run and I dearly wish I were in shape to begin again. Not running was hard on my emotional health as well as my physical health, and taking a break for an injury didn't sit well with me.

This time? Not so much. Am I more accepting that my body is what it is, and no amount of dieting and exercise is going to change it? Perhaps. It's not like I'm giving up on eating healthful meals or working out, but this time I didn't feel antsy or anxious because I was healing my heel. I had other things to do – you'll remember I opened a sweatshop for doll clothes – and I traveled quite a bit in the past two months.

Daily stretching and no long walks seem to have done the trick. My son and his family left yesterday morning for their long drive home, giving my husband and me the afternoon off. I decided to delay the putting-the-house-back-together chores one more day and just do what I wanted to do.

Our Amish neighbors, out for a Sunday drive,
while I was out for a Sunday WALK!

That included a walk. Only two miles. My daughter-in-law, granddaughter and I walked about half a mile Saturday afternoon and my heel felt good the whole time and afterward. I woke up Sunday with no heel pain at all (plantar fasciitis pain is the most intense first thing in the morning). Two miles felt just about right – I was out of breath climbing the first hill and pleasantly warm by the time I got back home.

The gift of healing is most welcome now that the busy-ness of Christmas present making is done. My husband and I have just one open house to attend and his mother will be our only guest on Christmas day, so we can spend as much time as we like walking without feeling like there's something else we should be doing.

The gift of time combined with the gift of healing added to the gift of a Monday (good day to start new behaviors) and topped off by the gift of nearly perfect walking weather (sunny with temperatures in the 50s) the next few days makes it feel like Christmas is already here!

May your days be merry and bright. And may all your Christmases be upright. Heh.