The Broken Soldier

My mother in-law is in town.  That’s a good thing.  We get on well together.  She’s here to celebrate my step-daughter’s birthday, and to have a visit with the rest of us.

Mom, Sarah, and Paige are at the Toledo Zoo.  I really wanted to go.  They have great primates.  But I did some house work yesterday, and a bit more this morning in prep to entertain a visitor.  Maybe an hour or so of total work time divided up between a day and a half.  I’m really paying for it.  I had a little accident this morning.  Yeah, that kind of accident.  I figured it was best that I stay behind.

Today, more than ever before, I realized that I’m the family cripple.  I’ve felt this before, but something’s different about today.  It’s hit me pretty hard.  I was hoping after the surgery I’d be a bit better.  Not what I was, of course.  Some pain and a distinguished limp, both of which justify satisfying my childhood wants for a cool 70s pimp cane.  But one must not hope to be more than one can be.  That’s not mine.  I read it somewhere.  But it fits.  Life as the crippled turd in the family punchbowl is going to take some getting used to.