October 11 – “Amnesia”

Several months ago Chris had a surprise visit.  Out of the blue an old friend from her elementary school days looked her up.  Not such an unusual thing in this world of the internet and information sharing, right.  Well, the unique thing about this visit was that the woman claimed to have amnesia.  She told us that she had lost her memory a few years before, and Chris was one of only seven people she remembered.  Her plan was, with the help of FaceBook, to seek out and visit those seven people in an effort to regain some of the lost days of her life.  Sounded kind of like a soap opera to me, to be honest.  Or maybe a made for TV Lifetime Channel presentation.  In fact, I think we watched this one back when my Dad was a big fan of Days of Our Lives.  Chris did remember her as well, though, so the two of them started reminiscing about days gone by.  The more they talked the more I began to wonder about the whole amnesia thing.  For someone with no memory, she sure remembered a lot of stuff.  More than Chris did, anyway.  I guess it was all coming back to her.  I always knew Chris was an inspirational woman.  Now there is no doubt.

Speaking of Chris, she has jumped right in (literally) to the water therapy class with me.  She has yet to meet the regular instructor, though.  That one is on a vacation of sorts, teaching at a conference in North Carolina, I think she said.  So as a result Chris has had the joy to experience the Dance Fever Instructor, the Goofy Silliness Instructor, and most recently Derr Fraulein.  As I have said before, I suppose each one has her strong points.  Dance Fever lady didn’t do her infamous cowboy shuffle routine, though, so Chris really missed out on that one (Note tongue in cheek here.  That is the strangest exercise she tries to get us to do).  Goofy Silliness lady was, well, goofy and silly.  And as a result she always inspires the class to be the same, so we don’t usually get a lot of hard work in.  But we do have fun.  I thought Derr Fraulein had moved to Colorado, so I was really surprised to see her last week.  She does provide a workout, and Chris agreed that she was quite challenging.  All told, I’m pretty sure Chris is sold on the classes.  I think she would prefer a little more aerobics, but then so would I. 

Chris finally went to the doctor about the pain in her hip.  Actually she has seen two different ones now.  Greatly prefers the second.  This one gave her a steroid shot and has her taking medications over a three week period.  That’s a lot longer than the first guy, and makes more sense.  The new doc also thinks the problem is not so much with her hip as with her back.  She thinks Chris did something to pinch a nerve in her back, and the resulting trauma traveled all the way down her leg.  As one who lives with pain that originates in the back, I totally understand that one as well.  Here’s praying that she will get past this quickly.  One pain junkie in the house is already one too many.

Isaiah 64:9 says, “Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever.  Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.”

Father, thank you that you are not an amnesia-riddled god.  You know us, inside and out.Amen.