An updated Christmas story

Sometimes (not often, but occasionally), I will go back and read some of my old blog posts. To check on past results and splits. And also? To check on past moments in time, in my life and in the life of this long-running blog. Ten years ago this Christmas season, I wrote about … well, Christmas season, 10 years ago! Specifically, about the family crisis we were going through with regard to my then-79-year-old mother. Like many elderly women, she has osteoporosis. Like many elderly women, she had a fall and fractured multiple bones. It required complex orthopedic surgery – lots of hardware implanted into that tiny, frail little Italian lady. It was a stressful, life-changing moment, one that she was fortunate to survive. And now, 10 years later, still frail and mostly blind and starting to lose her hearing, we were able – finally – to visit her, in her cramped assisted living room. First time in Room 102 in two years. We were all masked up. She recalled that Christmas season of 2011, one which included multiple hospital visits. She recalled how I was her go-to for visits to the friendly, patient and kind orthopedic surgeon. Like many running coaches, I think I have a rudimentary understanding of the lower anatomy (truth is: I’m just the dumbass holding the stopwatch, reader of numerous articles and owner of numerous lower body injuries and coach of countless athletes with countless injuries). As a result, I enjoyed (as much as you can) these visits, picking the doctor’s brain about my frail old mother, no doubt annoying him with informed-sounding questions about impossibly complex orthopedic topics. The bottom line emotion of all this? Gratitude. Gratitude that she survived and still survives, gratitude that we were finally able to visit her, despite a raging new variant or a virus crisis that seems to drag on endlessly. Gratitude for HER gratitude … she could very, very easily feel sorry for herself. She steadfastly refuses, and as a result she is an excellent role model for all of us in the family. Finally, last week, she was able to hold one of her three great-grandchildren – all of whom have been born during this pandemic, none of whom have been able to visit due to excessive travel, restrictions, health and safety concerns, all of it, you know the deal. So this is our Christmas story for 2021. One of gratitude. Here’s hoping we can revisit both of these posts in 10 years, and write a similarly themed post.