04/04/09: Brilliant sunny & blue sky! Triked my favorite route (previously outlined) early this afternoon. I wore 3 layers of clothing & was very comfortable. Under my helmet I wore a dry-weave face mask; it is long enough to cover my neck, too. The air was slightly brisk, especially while zooming down hills.

Was thinking about the name of this blog while out triking. I am NOT an advocate of using the word "try" in my vocabulary. "Try", to me, is a poor attempt at making an excuse for one's choices. I agree w/ Yoda, "There is no try; there is do or not do." I understand what someone is meaning when they genuinely put forth effort to accomplish a task and explain that process as "try" or "tried". However, that line of reasoning always leads to an explanation of what interferred and derailed completing a task. In other words, "try" serves to expect leniency for not keeping one's word. When someone genuinely puts forth effort, then I prefer to focus on the steps that were actually accomplished and the steps yet needing to occur. I feel more positive about myself when I focus on what I actually do vs what I don't get done. I choose to view the things I didn't get done as the next steps for accomplishment. When I say "I 'tried,'" I feel a sense of guilt over what I didn't complete. When I say "I did thus & such and need to do this & that next," there is a greater sense of accountability toward myself & others. Another more crude way to describe "try" is: piss or get off the pot. You either do or don't pee. You may pee a little bit, that is not a "try"; that is an accomplishment. You did pee a little. Or you didn't pee at all. Dribbling is peeing. If someone dribbled on your toilet seat, you'd say that person peed on the seat. They may not have meant to pee on the seat, in other words, they "tried" not to pee on the seat. Yet, they did. My Dad use to say, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Not that peeing on the toilet seat leads one to Hell (although in my house, I'm sure that's what the males in the house feared when I sat on a wet toilet seat), but the intention is key. If you pee on the toilet seat, then you did not intend to hit the hole wholly. You were careless, unthoughtful, disrespectful, etc... Dr Randy Carlson of Family Life Radio spends much focus on living life intentionally. People do not "try" when they live intentional lives. They either do or not do. Be like Nike: Just Do It!

WOW - that's a long way to get back to "tryking" for the name of this blog. As I was triking, I thought about changing the i to a y. I liked the possibility of tryking. As in, try my KING. But, then I went back to the line of reasoning expounded in the previous paragraph. I do not want someone to "try" my King. I want them to fully immerse themselves in my King. Even when "trying" on clothes; you're still putting them on and taking them off - there is no "trying" involved. There are decisions to be made: does this make my butt look big? can you see too much of what I don't want to show? does this color make me look more green? Those are decisions. So, I decided to forego tryking.

While triking this afternoon, I saw a plethora of wildlife. A squirrel darted across the path in front of me near the river. Two cats were sunning on the trail near the dam. Twelve turtles were sunning on the same log in the swamp pond while there were 4 turtles on another log and 2 on a third log. At the lake there were four geese on the western side of the lake searching for their afternoon snack. There were five swans gracefully gliding in the lake's current. I know swans mate for life. Well, several years ago, a swan died on the lake. I believe the odd-man-out swan is the surviving mate returning every year. I suppose that swan could be the odd-woman-out. I don't know how to decipher gender of swans. Many dogs (not wild life b/c they were leashed) were out with their people; one was pulling his/her people who was on roller blades. Made me think about whether to get a dog to power my trike. There is a harness setup that accomodates 1-2 dogs running w/ a trike. I guess we trikers could initiate our own Iditarod event. 1,160 miles would be a long triking trek. But, I imagine it's a long event for the sledders (& dogs), too.

Today's trike took < one hour. The 1st time I triked this trek (my favorite route) took just over one hour. I guess my legs are getting stronger! Blogging about this part of my recovery will help me keep track of improvement and gains in my lower limb healing.

Jan 22, 09 - this all began then. That was the day of a "near fatal auto accident" in which I was hit, head on, by a large SUV. Just typing the word SUV reminds me of a story my husband tells me (is SUV a word?). When I was in Trauma ICU, I did not understand how I ended up in the hospital. He kept telling me that I was hit by an SUV. Each time, I'd respond, "What's an S-U-V?" I could not comprehend his description. I experience mild TBI (traumatic brain injury), more about that at some point in the future, and I'm sure the TBI + drugs + trauma aided in my inability to comprehend and remember what an SUV was.

On Tues of this week, a friend reminded me that I thought I had been hit while out running. I do not recall hearing that element of this story before. However, it is entirely possible she &/or others have told me this same story many times. Recently, another friend laughed when she told me that she's told me the same story three times since I've been home from the hospital (which is one year ago on April Fool's Day); as of right now, I do not remember what she told me, but I do remember us laughing together about me not remembering. Running was a near daily experience for me. I may have been on my way home to run. I don't know. Not sure why I thought I'd been hit while running. Could be because I had so many broken bones (35+; some shattered beyond repair) and it made less sense that I could be that injured in a car accident when my VW Passat had airbag protection and I always wore my seat belt. I've learned, "SUV trumps Passat! every time". To sum up where this paragraph began, my legs were severly injured and to be able to trike is a miracle and JOY! Keeping track of my legs' recovery through this blog will also help me mentally, emotionally, & spiritually.

With that said, I will stop for now. We're supposed to get snow tomorrow (Sun) -Tues. This is spring in MI :-) But Wed's coming and it's gonna be sunny again - in other words, triking times again........

Blessings abound! and GOD is good! ALL the time!! (which reminds me of a running story, ..... I'll tell you another time) ~A~