Forty-five days after I left my house in an ambulance, I came home.

The walker had already been stowed in my daughter’s garage. I put my cane in the closet. I returned the borrowed raised toilet seat and shower chair to my friend. The only “aids” I was still using were the toilet safety rails (I removed these myself after only a few days) and the blessed towel warmer, which I continued to use for luxury’s sake.

I kept up with my exercises, kept walking, started lifting three-pound weights again (though I still have not graduated to the five pound weights I was once able to use with some success). I returned to many of my old habits, though not all. In place of yoga, I started exercising with yes2next, being careful not to overdo.

I still needed to sleep with a pillow between my knees. Some nights I slept great. Some nights I woke up every hour. Some nights, I retreated to my recliner, now in my own living room.

I remembered that every physical therapy session had started with stationary bike riding and pondered the possibility of getting back on my bike. It took me a while to persuade myself to do this, because, of course, I was afraid of falling, and then I asked myself, ‘How often have you fallen off your bike?’ And I reflected…’Never.’ The last time was when I was a kid and skidded on the gravel after a street repair on our block.

So, I got back on my bike, and it did me a world of good. Not only did it keep all my joints moving, but it was great for me psychologically. I will forever associate bike riding with my happy childhood, and with toting my own children in a seat on the back of my bike when they were small.  

I went back to church. I got my nails done, and got my hair done.

A week after I returned home, I attended a baby shower Heidi hosted at her house for my daughter-in-law Lindsay and her third child, Ada Jean. What a delight. The Cross Rehabilitation Center had been transformed, beautifully decorated, balloons, flowers, delicious food, a gorgeous cake. A time of joy after difficult days.

A week after that, Heidi, Ella, and I drove to South Carolina to pick up Trixie.

Then in June, the three of us went to Disney World. My roller coaster days are over, but I was able to ride anything a four-year-old could ride, and I enjoyed pin trading, shopping, and eating, of course. I was perfectly happy just to be there and did not mind waiting while the two daredevils rode the thrill rides.

So, this is how you reward a patient for following directions and working hard to get back on her own two feet.

You buy her a puppy and take her to Disney World.

When she’s seventy-two.

As of this writing, I will hit the “six-month post-surgery” mark, when doctors, nurses, and therapists advised me I could count on feeling “recovered.”

And I do.

I am doing almost everything I was doing before the injury.

I have resumed my self-imposed schedule—early to bed and early to rise. I drive myself to do chores. I park as far away from the door as possible, to “get my steps in.” I’m doing yardwork, although not for such extended periods as I once did. By this, I mean I never work more than an hour at a time. If I do too much for too long, lift bags that are too heavy, my leg will hurt the rest of the day and will wake me up at night.

I am very careful about where I step and how fast I walk. I could walk faster, but I see no need. I watch the ground for stray rocks. Since a crack on my uneven driveway was responsible for all my woes, I now walk on the opposite side of my driveway, still being careful to step over the cracks.

I’ve scheduled an appointment with Baptist AgeWell Center for Health. It’s time.

Flexibility and Balance are my watchwords.

In both cases, I mean those words in an emotional and mental as well as a physical sense.

Flexibility means I am not only exercising, but also working on saying, “yes,” when someone asks if I need help. It’s not my nature…partly as a Baby Boomer (we weren’t raised that way…we were the “seen and not heard” generation) and partly as a product of my mother and grandmother, both of whom preached independence.

I am trying not to mind or feel less capable when someone offers to carry something for me, or a hand to steady me, or offers to drive, or to walk me to my car.

As for Balance, I’m working on that every day with walking and bike riding.

Trying to be active, without overdoing.

Every day I remind myself: “Don’t slouch. Don’t shuffle. Don’t sigh.”

As Abraham Lincoln said, “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.”

This account opened with my favorite verse.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.” Psalm 37:23

The second half of the verse can be interpreted in four ways.

• “He (God) delighteth in his (the good man’s) way.”

That is, God delights when we walk faithfully in the pathways He has ordained for us.

Psalm 147:11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

• “He (God) delighteth in his (own) way.

That is, God knows where His way will lead us, and He delights in that way, as the Good Shepherd delights in leading his sheep.

Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

• “He (the good man) delights in his (God’s) way.

That is, the man knows God’s way, wherever it leads is best, and therefore, no matter what befalls him, he is confident God has a purpose and plan.

Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

• “He (the good man) delights in his (own) way.”

That is, walking with steps ordered by God inevitably leads to joy and fulfillment in life.

Psalm 16:11. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand, there are pleasures for evermore.

However you look at it, any, or all these promises result from the certainty that our steps are ordered by the Lord.

Even the steps where we trip and fall and hurt ourselves…physically or any other way.

And that is why verse 24 follows.

“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.”