Dancing with Reality
by Elouise
Taking stock from
The moment I put feet
On the ground
I wonder what this
Day will bring though
I already know the
News won’t be
What I expected
I always thought
A life of healthy choices
Would save me from
The ignominy of so-called
Failure or decrepitude
Despite external indicators
And internal mysteries
To the contrary
This morning I looked into
The mirror of today
Wondering how and
Where and when and why
Things fell out for me
In places I never dreamed
Of meeting on a cold or
Hot day in this short journey
Sinking into a chair I heave
Sighs of relief knowing that
Whatever the next checkup
Brings it won’t destroy
What already wants to
Dance without missing a beat
Or falling to the floor
In sheer exhaustion
I’m still learning what it means to live with peripheral neuropathy in my feet and legs. Each day offers multiple challenges. Which orthopedic shoes will I wear today? What can I do to keep the pain down? (Would you believe walk more?!) In three weeks I’ll have tests to determine how much damage has already been done.
In the meantime, I’m grateful for informative internet sites that aren’t trying to sell a product, a service, or a magic wand solution to a complex health issue. Here’s a reliable link to the National Institute of Health: Peripheral Neuropathy Fact Sheet.
Thanks for stopping by, and a belated happy Fall (here in the USA), or Spring (in Australia, for example). In case you’re wondering, the photo at the top is there because I like it. A bit of fall foliage at Longwood Gardens in October 2019.
Elouise♥
Elouise Renich Fraser, 2 October 2021
Photo taken by DAFraser at Longwood Gardens, October 2019
best wish
an air kiss
that you and my pal in melbourne
annie
will get to be
just a little more free
lovely poem
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many thanks to You15
for this lovely response
may your pal annie
live her one precious life
with just a little more freedom
one day and one night
at a time
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yup just john btw
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just john it is! Thanks.
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yw. great name Elouise. an old holly hit and my former neighbor mrs eloise folland, mother of dr douglas folland
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Gorgeous photo!
Your poem expresses the emotions and thoughts so well!
Prayers continuing for you as live adjust to, and live with, these new challenges. I know you can do it!
We must always keep dancing! 🙂 Even if that dancing is in our hearts and minds, because our bodies want to sit down! 🙂 We can live with a dance-attitude! 😀
Happy Autumn! 🙂
(((HUGS))) ❤
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Yes! I love the way the leaves are dancing in the air! Especially when they (and we!) might “want to sit down” (and never get up again). I love the idea of having a “dance-attitude”! Your comment makes me ponder all of life as one constant adjustment to realities known and unknown. Too bad we can’t adjust once and move on to the rest of life or the next adjustment (which will surely put every ‘right’!) I hope your day is a happy, dance-attitude kind of day! 🙂
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🙂 ❤
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Dear Elouise,
I just came from a painful visit to the orthotic specialist who “builds” one of Helga’s shoes, because one leg is longer than the other. The employees where she now lives threw her previous pair in the washer and dryer – leather and metal do not like such treatment and so, for two weeks, she has been terribly crooked when trying to walk, and trying not to resent the people whose thoughtlessness have made her life even more difficult than it was already.
She and I talk a lot about the losses of the 90’s – things she couldn’t have imagined 5 years ago – what they may/do mean, and what they don’t.
Keep dancing, Elouise. With your feet, when and if you can, and always with your heart and mind. Your heart/mind dances have been life-giving to so many, including me…
With gratitude for you and hope for us all…
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Dear Debbie,
Your report about Helga’s shoes is heart-breaking indeed. From your comment, I’m assuming the new pair of shoes are now exactly where they need to be–on her remarkable feet that have seen her through history we can only read about (and be grateful we weren’t part of).
I remember watching doctors (I could scarcely believe my eyes) dismiss my mother’s concerns about her health. I was heartbroken when she died. She was nearly 78 years old. At the same time, I was relieved she wouldn’t have to ignore/put up with almost daily dismissal of her chronic pain issues. My father’s role in this didn’t help, either. Thank you for your encouragement and presence to me and so many others. I pray this day finds you dancing unawares! 🙂
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Grace and peace to you, Elouise, grace and peace to you…
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Thank you kindly, dw. I pray the same for you, no matter what this day brings.
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