The Pathless Woods and Lonely Shore

I’m ripping off my old pal Byron here.

From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (full poem at the link)

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
   There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
   There is society where none intrudes,
   By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
   I love not Man the less, but Nature more...

I went for a walk along the seawall yesterday with my PT, Philomena, and Ten. Get this, I was able to foot it two times as far as I’ve been able to in more than a year. Previous max distance—100 feet. Yesterday—225. Not only that, I was able to walk, the whole time, in a straight line. On previous outings I’d consistently pull to my right—my stronger side. Huzzah and how ‘bout that!

Yes, I had my brace on, was using my walker and Philomena was right behind me with my wheelchair in case I needed to sit down (I didn’t). Maybe, by spring, my walks will look less like a marching band-less mini-parade. Wait one hot minute here—a marching band would be a great idea! OK, a marching quartet might be a more a doable concept. There’ll be kazoos, spoon-players, tin whistles and tambourines. The group will sashay out in front, heralding my presence and singular, astonishing, in fact wondrous feat—me walking without plotzing.

Back at yesterday's promenade though—the shore was not, as anticipated, lonely (i.e., unpopulated) but neither was it jam-packed.  Also, besides us three, no one was masked. They all kept their distance though. Possibly this had less to do with consideration for a struggling neighbor and was more about not wanting to be absorbed into the pomp and procession. Oddly, not everyone enjoys a sparkly spectacle. Weird, huh?

At some point, maybe I’ll be able to rehab up to strolling sans brace and walker. This would open up more wandering vistas and ops for me. After all, it’s hard to ramble in pathed, let alone pathless woods, with a walker. Given enough time, exercise, determination and patience, it could conceivably happen. I bet I can do this.

Today though, I’m taking it relatively easy. Pacing myself/doing enough but not so much that I implode, is one of the most important things I’ve learned in this last year+ of pro-rehabbing.