I am not even sure where to begin. This past week has been both a blur and a painfully slow crawl. It marked a few notable dates and events, the first of which was my four-month “Walkiversary.” It is hard to believe that I have been planning this for four months. The second event was my birthday! I turned thirty-six. I have been asked if walking across the country is a mid-life crisis. I suppose that is a fair question. If it is, at least it is cheaper than a sports car.

Oh! Elika shattered her ankle. She was playing catch with my niece and nephew. What should follow that sentence is an epic story about how she did a fool hearted leaping dive to catch the pigskin. Sadly that is not true. She was almost standing still. She stepped to the side a bit to make a catch, twisted her ankle, she went one way and her ankle went the other. What resulted was three different broken bones and a dislocation.

We had a lovely ride to Christiansburg, Va. hospital curtiousy of 911. She had to have emergency surgery to put her ankle back together. I turned into a stressed insomniac worry beast. I did manage to sleep a bit though…

And here she is looking all happy on her super narcotic pain medication. I am going to start calling her “Franken-ankle.”

I found this sign in the ER very amusing.

So Elika is now bionic! She has a metal plate and two screws in her leg which gives her the power to get searched thoroughly by airport security. She is also pretty much immobile. She cannot put any weight on that foot at all for six weeks. Let’s see… oh!… I got let go from my seasonal work obligations. I saw this coming. It would not have lasted past the second week in January and seeing as I am now a full, live-in, health care provider I could not have gone back until around that time.

We had to stay with my sister for a week, which was nice. I do not get to see my family often enough and I wish it were under different circumstances. I was able to drive the four hours back with Elika yesterday after making a huge pillow nest for her in the back seat. So we are home now… and I slept. Today I am going to rent a wheelchair. Elika wants to go see The Hobbit. We will see if I can get her “There and Back Again.”

Oh! One more thing! Best birthday present ever? The Hero of Canton! The man that they call Jaaaaaaaaaayne!