So…. It’s been a very interesting few days. 🙂 Productive, too. I finished all my grading for the semester, put out a few fires for my students, belted out one of the most difficult blog posts I’ve ever had to write, got completely flooded with responses on Facebook and elsewhere, got called everything from courageous to racist, and, oh yeah, somewhere in there I went back under the knife. Remember two years ago when I had hip replacement surgery and became T-Bot? Well, the left hip checked out not too long after the right, so my ortho decided it was time to evict the left hip too. I’m in the hospital now, hoping to be discharged today, pecking out this little post on my phone.

So far (knock on wood), this surgery has been much easier than the first. I hope that’s not just the calm before the storm. But for a gal with a ten-inch, bone-deep, stapled-up axe wound in her thigh, I’ve been relatively pain free. Hope I didn’t just jinx myself. If I’m discharged today, I’ll head back home and start the process of learning to walk all over again. Again. 🙂

I was floored by the response to my last post. I published it Wednesday night, went down for surgery Thursday morning, and came up from anesthesia that afternoon to find a zillion messages on my phone. Most were really supportive. Some not so much, but that’s okay. The post wasn’t meant to be an appeal for sympathy.

It also wasn’t meant to be a wholesale indictment of the guy who said the n-word. Nor was it meant to be an indictment of the NRA as a whole. It was really more of a self-reflection. I was disappointed in myself for the way I reacted, and it’s something I need to work on. 

I’ve been in touch with the guy who made the comment, and we are in the process of talking things out. He reached out to me and offered a very sincere apology. We will keep the conversation going, as I think it’s a great opportunity for both of us to grow as people and maybe squeeze something positive out of a very negative experience. 

The Percocet is kicking in, so I’ll sign off for now. Wish me luck on my journey over the next few weeks to walk a little straighter with my brand new metal hip and think a little straighter with my brand new mental perspective.