I really love my job. Like seriously, I can hardly express my excitement to go to work each morning. I love my students so much, and I'm so fortunate to be at a school where I can invite students over for pico and chips. Mexican food and students are two of my favorite things on the planet. I had a couple really wonderful interactions this week - more than a couple - that have encouraged me that despite my physical struggles, I'm where I'm supposed to be and doing what I'm supposed to do.[...]

Whenever I post about the dirty details related to a medical inconvenience I have, I get loads of comments and recommendations from people around the world with no experience with paralysis who want to offer advice. That's very nice, but it's also very frustrating. I have access to lots of medical professionals, and I take all my problems to them. Due to that, I refrain from posting all the details of my bladder infections, leg spasms, diarrhea, stomach cramps, shoulder pains, et cetera publicly on the internet. [...]

In my job, I have the privilege of listening to students process what they believe about the world we live in and the theological concepts that make up the framework of Christianity. This week's lessons were mostly about the life and work of Jesus Christ. We established the historicity of his life, death, and resurrection and talked about how people have to choose whether or not to believe the facts (Josh McDowell or Lee Strobel style) and then a subsequent decision related to the effect on daily life is necessary. We focused more on this second decision in a class discussion yesterday. So if Jesus saved us from our sins and is coming back, how does that change my life today? [...]

When German friends ask me how I'm doing, I answer "Immer besser," or "always better." I'm making slow progress, and sometimes I'm frustrated at the pace, but I have to recognize that I'm still moving forwards. It's a Schnecke pace - slow as a snail - but I've noticed those snails can really book it in the spring after the rain stops. This past week, I feel like I moved super slowly and didn't reach the distances I had hoped. I did reach some other goals outside of my physical movement though. I taught my students for three days last week, and I was so delighted to see them all back in the classroom. Today, one of them told me I am as cool as Mrs. Fung, the super awesome English teacher they have. [...]

There are loads of horrible lessons to be learned from Disney princess movies, but I'm not going to touch that. I'm instead going to talk about the coordination that comes from familiarity with your appendages. When The Little Mermaid begins, Arial is adept at moving through the water by using her tail. She turns and twists with relative ease in the buoyant environment because she's used to both the water and the fish tail. When she's given the chance to walk with legs for the first time, she wobbles quite a bit. Her brain isn't used to sending signals to legs to walk one foot in front of the other; her nerves are new.[...]

I'm not sure if I've referenced "spoon theory" here before, but it's a concept that aptly describes my limitations this week. You can read the whole post here, but the summary is that a woman with a chronic illness explained to her friend that those with chronic illness or disability begin each day with a limited number of spoons which represent energy to accomplish tasks whereas able bodied people have a limitless supply of spoons. I have a limited supply of spoons, and it takes a spoon to open my eyes each morning, to get out of bed, to put on my clothes, to go to the bathroom - some of these tasks take multiple spoons. Nearly none of you have to budget your energy for any of those tasks. I frequently have to make judgement calls about what I'll do each day knowing that I'll eventually run out of spoons. I can sometimes borrow spoons into the next day, but then I'm starting the following day even lower on spoons. [...]

It's hard to write a post this week because nothing remotely near the excitement level of last week happened again. I've still been working hard, and that hard work paid off big time last week, but I've got to keep pushing along and waiting for more results. [...]

Last week there was a small adjustment to my therapy schedule as I had a special hour long session with Anja to try something we'd attempted in earlier half hour sessions with limited success. When I showed up, I sat down in a chair in the therapy room and removed my shoes. Anja and I had a great conversation while she massaged my calves and relaxed my ankles. The drop foot keeps the muscles below my knees ridiculously tight. Eventually, she got my feet to stay put flat on the floor and asked me to lift my heel while she held one hand on the top of my foot and the other on the back of my calf.[...]

Saturday was a special treat for me as I was able to spend the day with Jo and Lydia - two of my friends from REHAB. Jo drove me out to visit Lydia who's spending time at a facility near Zürich. Jo and I planned this surprise visit last week, and it was such a joy for me to spend the afternoon with the two of them. I had to work hard on my German, but Lydia encouraged me that I've improved a lot since she met me - when I could only say two sentences in German. [...]

This week a friend posted on Facebook a meme that said, "I feel like I'm already tired tomorrow." I relate to this sentiment on a painfully deep level. I remember way back in REHAB writing a post about how I worried people would get bored hearing me talk about how tired I am, so I try to down play it. The truth is, I'm always tired. I'm always excited to go to work, but I'm tired. [...]