Back on my feet - Have cane will travel!
Current mood:
bouncy
Category: Healing Up Real Good!
Life My Left Foot
(with all due respect to Daniel Day Lewis)
Well, as some of you may or may not know I've been out of commission for most of the summer due to surgery on my left foot. I actually had my entire foot reconstructed so you could say I have a whole new understanding! I finally had to resort to surgery due to a "congenital deformity" which means I was born with an extra toe and some extra bones in my left foot-Mama always said it was God's way of giving me that "little something extra"-LOL!
Then to complicate matters I was in a very bad car accident when I was 22 and ended up in a wheelchair for almost a year. This compilation of circumstances led to my foot surgery but the good news is that I am well on the mend and only using a cane - the bad news is that I have to wear these gigantic black & white sneakers that are two sizes too big until Ol' Lefty stops swelling (anyone who knows me should know that I'm not exactly a "sneaker-kind-of-gal") but I'm not complaining because at least I'm walking-just not as stylishly as I might prefer. In other words, Vanity thy name is Lindy Loo!
Yes good ol' Lefty and me go way back and we have had a somewhat complicated relationship. My mama didn't even notice my heart-shaped double toe until I was about six months old even though it was clearly there in the baby footprint that came with my baby book from the hospital. But then again being the only woman doing washing, cooking and cleaning with no running water in a very small 4 room house with 4 big ol' six foot six men to feed, an outhouse for the bathroom, a board for a washing machine & a line for the dryer and with wood to be chopped for heating - well it all involves a lot of toting, lifting and just plain old hard work-so I sure don't hold that against her.
I was always a little mad at my poor old left foot for being so different, so I would punish it by putting it's sock on last while the right foot was immediately clothed and warm. But all that changed when the doctor told my mama that I should never wear saddle shoes that tied I should ONLY wear maryjanes with a strap to allow for my wider left foot. Suddenly my "Sunday Best" shoes were my everyday shoes and since I was a girly girl I was very happy. I didn't even care when some of the girls at school acted like I was just a poor country girl putting on airs-or as the old Flatt & Scruggs tune warned, "Don't Get Above Your Raisin'".
I was so happy with my shiny patent MaryJanes I decided to push it a little further in second grade. Since I hated running laps in physical education, I asked Mama to write a note to teacher saying because of my extra toe I could no longer run laps. . .which was all well and good until my teacher, Mrs. McCoy decided to use me as a learning tool. She had me take off my left shoe and sock, stand on a wooden crate and then proceeded to parade grades 1 through 6 past me - this "Freak of Nature"! I never had so much sympathy for the two-headed calf at the fairground as I did that day! Daddy said it was my own fault for trying to get out of running and Mama said she felt certain that I had enjoyed the attention! Maybe she had something there because I did choose a life on the "wicked stage".
Today I'm writing mainly because I want to thank all of you who were kind enough to send me messages and kind words urging a speedy recovery and including me in your prayers. I know that it has a LOT to do with how well I am healing. Although I managed to remain a hermit all summer with nary a visitor, it was not for lack of good friends trying to come by- I just needed the summer to go within myself and take a good hard look plus I only really enjoy attention when I'm onstage (or a milk crate apparently) and I can be shy-hard though it may be to believe.
It was a necessary hermitage for me and I thank my friends for being so understanding and patient with me while I was busy being a patient!. That being said, I must give special shout outs to my friends who tried so hard to support me in my speedy recovery in so many ways: Like my dear, dear friend, Emily Cohen, who not only offered to visit but to bring me a fully roasted turkey that she would package and lug all the way from Staten Island! What an incredible friend she is to me! Also, Paul Thornton-a big part of my hillbilly family and his lovely "other half" Christine, Wayne Gray who even saw me in the hospital, James Harris, Diane Amos-"the Pine Sol Lady", Sasha Mullins, Arty Hill, Scotty Westervelt, Sean Kershaw-who offered to drive me anywhere I needed to go, so kind, the Phare Play theatre group-especially Blake and Christine, Buddy & Brandi of the DixieBeeliners and of course, all the terrific friends that I have met here on MySpace who included me in their prayers and good wishes. My goodeness-looks like I am one lucky lady! Right Lefty? "So Right!"
I love you all so much and I got back onstage Saturday with the lovely Jamie Lyn Smith at her Honky Tonk Angels show so I'm well on my way. Also I have to thank my incredible caregivers, my surgeon, Dr. Matthew Roberts, the nurses at the Hospital for Special Surgery-especially Milda & Dot, my incredible physical therapist, Keith Peterson and of course my love, Chicky Wicky - the Baron who took care of me all summer while I could only sit there with my leg hoisted in the air-He did a great job! Lucky me! Take care ya'll - Lindy's back and ready to roll! XXOO, LL
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