I'm Feeling Good!

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by
You know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
I'm feeling good

Play the song here. 

Yesterday at my physical therapy appointment they went thru my 1 month evaluation and declared I'm "Killing It!" The range of motion on my new knee is 0-120 degrees. I believe that is considered full range of motion, or at least close. It has still been sore the last few days. Jim has to put up with my whimpering, especially after going up and down our stairs. He fills my ice machine, tells me to wrap my knee and be quiet! It helps. The ice that is 😊- there's nothing that helps me be quiet!

Yesterday also I went to the dentist for an implant. Between that and my physical therapy workout I claimed to have been tortured twice yesterday! Surprisingly, I had next to no pain left over from either of those. I filled the prescription for antibiotics and pain pills but I didn't feel the need for the pain pills ... until middle of the night when I woke up with a splitting headache from the dental work. I took the pain pill then - Ibuprofen 800mg - and it didn't take long before I was back blissfully asleep. 

I woke up today feeling great - no pain whatsoever from my dental work. Now, let's see how I make it down the stairs. 

OMG

I was halfway down before I even remembered that I was supposed to be careful. I wasn't favoring my bad knee at all! I went back up the stairs - feeling good. I was giddy. Went down the stairs again, just to double-check. Going down the stairs has been the one last occurence of pain. It's gone!

I felt like singing!

Stars when you shine, you know how I feel
Scent of the pine, you know how I feel
Oh, freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me

I'm feeling good

Next up - Dancing!

Then, I was able to get back to work with clearing out stuff from the house. 42 days till we leave Fort Lauderdale for good. The house is up for sale about a week now - lots of hits on the listing but no lookers yet. Here is the listing. 

Ooops, I don't think I've mentioned how we've upped our date and place of embarkation. We are now planning to board the ship on 4-20-25 in Cartagena, CO. Reasons?? 

• my knee recuperation was going so well, I didn't need more than 2 months. 
• the realtor said not only is it ok to handle a closing remotely, he actually prefers to sell a house when there are no residents
• we decided to cancel our Amsterdam trip (thank you Marie for finding someone else to take over our deposit
• Cartagena is just about the closest port to Florida, easier logistics than San Francisco
• we can't wait!!

We are the fire

There are so many stories lately of people who have lost their homes, and all their belongings in the fires of southern Southern California. As devastating as this is, some of them are choosing to take the opportunity to reinvent themselves and start fresh. Our friend, Marie, came over for dinner last night and told us about one one such friend of hers who has now left S Cal  with nothing but her dog and the clothes she had on. Without denying the trauma involved, her friend says she actually feels surprisingly free and happy. A new lease on life?

Marie marveled, as she looked around our house and considered the fact that we're getting rid of everything except some clothes, personal items and computer equipment. She would not allow us to get rid of our wedding album or the framed collages on our wall of memories from my Mom. She offered to store them in her house for that someday when we might want them again.

We are doing, by choice, what the Fire did to her friend. We are the fire. 🔥🔥