My Broken Leg

On December 7th of last year I broke my leg. Not just a simple break either. I couldn't have surgery on it for two weeks and when I did, it involved pins and metal plates and me in the hospital for Christmas. I couldn't wait to watch A Christmas Story twelve times in a row, which I almost did. And that is the secret of my success: the small joys in life have always been my favorite. I never prepared for something like breaking my leg and being out of work for six months and I am still convinced I am going to outlive almost everyone I care about and maybe dying when I am in my late nineties. Of course no one should live long enough to outlast everyone who cares about them so I'm hoping, since I don't have any kids, that my nephews or nieces or their kids will like me enough to visit me and make sure I don't freeze or starve to death. I keep hearing that I have to learn how to walk again but I think that's BS. I've been testing my leg and I think that I will be able to walk just fine. I don't think the rules that apply to everyone else apply to me. If it usually takes six weeks to heal, I'm convinced I might heal in four. I was told taking the drain out of my leg (really gross, but there is a tube and a sluice pipe the doctors stick in your leg to get all the pus out of there) was really gonna hurt. When the doc came in the room (at four in the morning) to take it out, I said "Go ahead." And that's all there was to it. Wasn't bad at all. What people call pain, no big deal for me. Same goes with speed limits, waiting a half hour after I eat to swim, and petting strange dogs. So, accourdingly, I don't think mortality applies to me either. Sure, I'll probably die eventually, but who knows. Lots of people say to me "You seem to be taking this well." Well, what else am I gonna do. Seriously though, I can read and sit in the sun all day. I have a cocktail around 4 o'clock. My brother and sisters and their kids and other visitors come and go and bring food. I get to be the default babysitter for everyone and when I need a change of scenery I go to my sister's house and sit in the hot tub. More than anything, though, maybe I should thank my lack of ambition. They say Buddha learned everything he needed to know sitting on the banks of a river and watching it go by. When my leg gets healed and I can get around maybe I'll try that.