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Just a little over 2 weeks ago I was days out of surgery and barely moving due to pain where they cut me open.  I could only walk 400 - 800 meters very slowly and methodically.  My legs seemed to have forgotten how to walk properly. 

Just 3 weeks ago I was only able to lie in the recliner.  I couldn't walk, sit or stand without tear-causing pain.  I directed Thanksgiving dinner from my horizontal position in the recliner.  When I did move about I had to use a cane to make the pain more bearable as I walked.

Yesterday I walked 2 miles for the third time.  I can sit, stand and function in most ways.  I'm not allowed to bend, lift or twist but it isn't because of pain.  Those restricted movements are to protect my surgery.  I have to keep my back as straight as possible so it will heal properly.

It has been a month of either dealing with pain or limited mobility.  I look around my house at all the things I can't do, yet am thankful for what I can.  The day will come when I can resume all my old activities.  I will feel amazing and look back on these days with awe.  I'm thankful that for me, that day always comes.  Things may be a bit different when the day comes, but the day always comes when the pain and difficulty is in the past, when I am wholly me again with yet another appreciation for all I have to be thankful for.

When I was younger I recognized the victorious days after a period of being sick.  Then I noticed them throughout the different stages of cancer and treatment.  I noticed them after I was diagnosed with MS and after I began getting used to the medication.  I know they will come again.  I love the day when I wake up and know that I am finally looking back.  I am not simply on my way to the other side of the difficulty, but have finally reached it. 

There are many people who don't get to go through as many difficult things as I.  People miss out on the opportunity to contrast the difficult days and the good and easy days.  I don't wish it for anyone, but I find it is something to be thankful for.

I feel like Rudy in the movie.  Life keeps trying to knock me down and I keep getting back up. Everyone around me is screaming, "Stay down! Haven't you had enough?"  Then I get up again.  Realistically, if I stopped getting up, life wouldn't be able to keep knocking me down.  But, the strength comes from getting up.  The perspective on what matters and what is important comes from standing in the pain not from lying down.

I see people feel sad and sorry for me.  I don't want that.  Stand by my side and try to see what I see.  Step into my shoes, if only for a moment, so you can appreciate the beauty of life and health and love and hope.  Breathe in gratitude, sigh in peace, see the workings behind the curtain and gain strength from the revelation.