healing

I have never concentrated so hard on walking.  The brace is off as of today.  My shrimpy little leg with the still swollen knee is free like a wobbly newborn calf.  Walking from the hotel to CVS, from the Kennedy Center to Georgetown, I almost yell down at my leg, "CONCENTRATE!"  Left, right, left, right, heel, toe, NO LIMPING.  Relearning to walk is grating my patience.______My time in DC is creeping to a close.  I've got a list of things to eat, see, watch, and read.  I've written down a few items to take back to Armenia.  I've made some friend here at the hotel, other PCVs who are here on medevac, and we all agree that we're tired of being here.  We're ready for our normal lives again, that is, our lives back in foreign places.______Everyone in Armenia is going to tell me that I've gotten fat. "Chaghatsel es!" they'll say. And they'll be right.  Last night I ate chips and queso for dinner.  I followed that with white powdered donuts.  The night before that dinner was Cadbury cream egg, followed by Cheez-Its, followed by another Cadbury cream egg.  I'm naming the new belly roll America.______For the first time in a while I'm reading a book that has me in love with the characters, the plot, the language, and the setting.  Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.  I'm not finished yet, but the first 120 pages have been brilliant.