One Year Ago

A year ago today, we were one week out from Aaron's knee surgery. I can never remember the "real" name of his procedure (osteo-condiosrphfinfragle-graf ... I'm sure that's right ...), but the every day words are that he had a cartilage transplant. (Until last January, I didn't even know a cartilage transplant was possible! Funny the things you learn when you are faced with them.) Anyway, here he was about this time last year:

It's a different brand of March Madness ...

I think about his knee a lot when I run. I think about how out of the blue it was that something went wrong in his knee, and I think about how very suddenly it was addressed. I also think about the changes he has made to best take care of his knees (running =  very bad idea for Aaron). In the context of the physical changes he needed to make in his life, he made some big ones. Through the course of his physical therapy, I even learned how hard running is on your knees. Before all of this, I really had no idea. I just thought it was hard. This put "running is hard" in a whole new context for me.

Additionally, I have to mention that for Aaron to be given this gift, another family was turned inside out from a loss. We pray that the words we were able to express in letters to them last year continue to provide some semblance of comfort as we are forever grateful.

I can't help but understand and embrace how very fortunate I am for every, single step I am allowed to run. How far, how fast, how slow, how hot, how cold ... none of that matters. It matters only that I have the gift to do it. That is what March taught me one year ...