April Makes May

Linda Burton posting from Arkadelphia, Arkansas – “I’m glad you were born in April,” Mother used to say. “That way I wasn’t pregnant in the hot summertime.” I’m glad too, April is such a promising month. Showers and flowers and Easter parades and (when I was a little girl) dotted-swiss pinafores. This year I was gifted with birthday cupcakes on April 4, and new bird feeders, and the return of the hummingbirds, apparently none the worse for that long flight back from wherever they wintered. The good news for April is – I met my March 31 deadline and managed to get 51 new Pages set up on this website. The bad news is – it cost me my right arm. Seriously, all those computer hours shut down my arm muscles. I knew I was in a hurt, but the disaster element sunk in when I was unable to lift my arm high enough to put away a glass on the second shelf of the cupboard.

I whined my way into the doctor’s office who promptly sent me across the street to the hospital and the therapy unit. A cheerful but unrelenting Kevin pulled and tugged my shoulder, slapped on a hot pack, and coerced me into a promise to do every exercise on the instruction sheet at least three times a day and to come back three times a week till I could move again. So, I did. And now, I can. But I didn’t write a lick for a month. I guess “behind” is my middle name. On top of that, I had some unwelcome visitors. » read more