Long Weekend Update – Lee

It has been a good Memorial Day Weekend.

Friday marked a great first step toward a resumption of driving. As you may or may not recall, the good Dr. Rubano said he wouldn’t clear me to drive until I was on either one crutch or a cane.

Last week the ankle was feeling a bit better, and I have been feeling a little less of the effects of the tendonitis in the Achilles and the old Peroneus Longus and Peroneus Brevus tendons. Last Thursday, I tried spending a bit more time practicing with a single crutch. Friday morning, the ankle wasn’t feeling terribly sore, so I started the physical therapy session by walking in on one crutch and holding the other one. I finished up by asking to try out the cane they had sitting on one side of the room.

Long and the short of it – I ended up buying a cane from the Medicine Shoppe just down the street, and I’ve been working with it, albeit slowly, and a little bit at a time. It’s more comfortable than using a single crutch, and since it’s a very stealthy flat black, I can bonk some heads with it and no-one will see it coming. It also has a nice little wrist tether, so no matter where I go, I won’t forget where it is. Truth be told, I’m not exactly sure why it has a tether … maybe it’s for the “Help – I’ve fallen, and I can’t find my cane” crowd?

My personal goal with the cane is to be able to call the good Dr. Rubano on Friday and say "Hey! Change me to 'Driving Capable' ... now!" We'll see, after my PT appointments Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of this coming week. Keep your fingers crossed for me, folks! :)

This weekend was a nice celebratory weekend, in addition to the remembrance of all those who have fought and given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

David Stolfi (Janice’s sister Susie’s fiancé) is from Torrington, Connecticut. (You may remember him as “Dave, Dave, The Dancing Machine” from the wedding) His mother Pat and his father Frank celebrated their 50^th Wedding Anniversary on May 21^st. David and his sister Tammy, and Susie, wanted to do something special for them in honor of their milestone, so a very nice party was held at the Venetian Restaurant in Torrington on Sunday. Cocktails upstairs in the private lounge, followed by dinner from a wonderful Italian menu, some funny stories and anecdotes, all accompanied by a terrific Italian accordion player and a vocalist … and a phenomenal time was had by all. I say this very affectionately, when I say I’ve never met a nicer bunch of goombahs and goomars in my life. It was great fun. There was sort of an “after-party” back at Pat and Frank’s house, in Torrington, for mainly family and we were included. It really was a wonderful time – they are terrific people.

Susie and Danny had flown into Bradley International Airport on Friday, for the weekend with us, and for the celebration with the Stolfi’s. We’re having a really nice time with them, and it is always nice to have family come for a visit (hint, hint, hint). Danny is getting a small apartment in Columbia, MO for his sophomore year at the University of Missouri. Since I had been telling him about the various pieces of furniture Janice and I have from IKEA, and how I thought he should think about some things from there because of the quality and better yet - the prices, we all made the trip down to New Haven to our new IKEA store, on Saturday afternoon. Danny was, as most people are the first time they go through one of their behemoths of a home-furnishing store, a sufferer of what I call “IKEA Overload”. I’ve found that shopping at IKEA is almost an art form, and something that takes some time to plan, and not just to go in there with open eyes (and a freely-hinged wallet) I was gratified to make a new “convert”. Actually, it was Susie’s first trip to an IKEA store, so that makes two converts! :: grinning, here ::

We did the whole “IKEA Experience”, which always has to begin with fortification by some Swedish Meatballs with the obligatory cream gravy and lingonberry sauce (priced at a value-minded $3.99 for 15 meatballs) from the store’s cafeteria. I, on the other hand, was the only one of us who did the post-shopping all-beef 50-cent hotdog experience. OK, so I did the two all-beef hotdog experience for $1.00 ... so I'm a pig, what do you want from me? HA HA

After IKEA, we stopped in at the Rusty Scupper on New Haven Harbor for dinner.

It was a really good day.

Today, I believe we are going back over to Pat and Frank’s house for a Memorial Day cookout. I’m not sure, yet, what the plan is, but I’m thinking there is the promise of some really good food, since Pat is a really good cook! She made me promise (more than once) that we would come over, and that she had made her famous redskinned potato salad. It’s hard for me to pass up potato salad of any kind, so I think we’ll probably go. It’s a beautiful day (warm and cloudless sky – so far) so a backyard cookout would be a lot of fun, and we'll probably take the convertible – making for an even nicer outing.

And one final thing about this weekend – how about that Danica Patrick? I was impressed. However ... she is still a long way from driving the ultimate - Formula 1.

Anyway, I hope this Memorial Day finds you all well, and enjoying some form of festivity to celebrate and give thanks to our many veterans.

God Bless America, and God Bless All To Whom We Owe This Gratitude.