Life’s Gait Belt Friday Round-Up

I can put anti-embolism socks on a grown man with a very sore leg. This is a new skill I put right up there with being able to unlock the back door carrying a toddler and two bags of groceries after dropping my keys in the dark and having to kneel down to search for them in wet snow. I can also fry it up in a pan, which, if you’ve been there, you get it.

If I had it to do over again, I’d be a physical therapist. The PT’s we’ve dealt with since the old man got his ‘trashed’ knee replaced ten days ago have been upbeat, practical, and funny. They also come from the “Of course you can” school of life, which I love an awful lot. Also, gait belts are amazing. Ours is pink.

Chicken pot pies are in the oven. These are not fancy pot pies crafted from some NYT recipe. These are just straight up frozen chicken pot pies, maybe an inch better than the 29-cent pot pies my mother bought. We ate a lot of pot pies when I was a kid, kind of in an ebbing and flowing rhythm tied to my dad’s business fortunes and misfortunes. It was okay though, kind of special actually because, after all, we each got our own pie.

One of our adult kids has an elongated orbit, meaning he spends a lot of time with us and then his path extends away and into the great beyond. Often, for quite some time. But when he is gone and then returns, he soaks up the fact that he is beloved by us. I can see it on his face, the relief, the rest. “Love is a place.’ e.e.cummings.

Today, before starting a meeting that I was chairing, I rested my head on my colleague’s shoulder. I was tired from all the anti-embolism sock work and wondering if, in fact, my own socks matched. “Do I need to come over with martinis?” she asked. No, I thought, you just have to say that you would if I asked.
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A gait belt is a device used to help people with wobbly mobility maneuver walking, stairs, and other challenges.