24 Hours

There are times in life when you’re very aware there are 24 hours in a day. Like when you have a newborn. You wish your baby would choose some of those 24 hours to sleep. Hopefully several in a row. Hopefully between sunset and sunrise.

I recently experienced another time I was fully aware of each of the 24 hours in a day…the few days following surgery. I hoped I’d find a comfortable enough position to sleep in. Hopefully for several hours in a row. Hopefully between sunset and sunrise.

I’ve tried to just embrace the “it is what it is” of all this. 

Before surgery, I had set routines. I woke up around 5:15 to workout. I walked my daughter to the bus. I took a shower. My son and I walked to school for him and work for me. We walked back home together. I drove my kiddos to their activities. Dinner. Bed. Sleep. Repeat. Many of these routines I am unable to do right now. As a routine-lover, this is hard for me. As a person who likes to do everything herself, this is hard for me. I can be mad about it, or I can embrace the “it is what it is” of all this.

So the 24 hours of my daily life look a bit different right now. Each day since surgery, I’m able to sleep a bit more comfortably. I wake up at 5:15 to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie by Christmas tree light. My daughter watches part of it with me as she eats her breakfast. My shower is a whole ordeal, so that eats up more than the 10 minutes it used to. Before my drain was removed, I would play a game called, “what do I have to wear that covers this drain?” It was super fun! 

I’m not supposed to be doing housework/cooking/cleaning, so I just think about all the things I feel like I should be doing, but can’t. I watch the dust bunnies as they taunt me, performing the Waltz of the Snowflakes, knowing I can’t vacuum them. Maybe I’m watching too much Hallmark? (No such thing!) 

This surgery recovery is as much a mental struggle as a physical one. 

Sometimes I want to fast-forward these 24 hours. Skip ahead. But then again, I love this time of year. So, I must settle in and enjoy it differently. At times uncomfortably. 

But, like my favorite Christmas movies, this tale too shall have a predictably happy ending. 

24 hours at a time.