Sunday, July 31, 2011

Too Slow in the Slow Country

Italy is famous for being the country that invented Slow Food.
Foreigners consider it a wonderful destination because life seems to slow down while you visit or live here. (I can attest to this, especially when living here during the summer. Almost everything slows down or comes to a standstill in the cities.)
I enjoy this to some degree, depending on where I am (beach) and what I need to get done (not anything important like getting official certification of any kind).
But right now, I am talking about the slow one being me.
I can barely walk.
I sprained my ankle two weeks ago while dancing to Cindy Lauper on the banks of Venice's Giudecca during the famed Redentore celebration. Everything was grand until my left foot came down hard on an uneven surface: where the grassy plot met the sidewalk. Bang. Rip. My achilles tendon has been killing me ever since.
I am getting frustrated after hobbling along for 15 days.
I have had to give up attending an outdoor concert among other fun activities.
I have a hard time walking my dog.
Driving can be painful. At least I have a moped and don't need to be using my feet for any clutch action on it!
Life has become INCREDIBLY slow.
I am even slow for Italian standards.

For now, the swelling has gone down. The bruised areas are healing. I am getting physical therapy. I am waiting. I am trying to enjoy summer with my feet up. But honestly, at this point, I'd rather have them down and ready to scale mountains or at least take a leisurely stroll with my pooch.

(Monte Rosa, please give me good weather at the end of August when I can finally climb your summits! I regret having to postpone my original trekking dates which were dedicated to you next week.)

I guess I'll have another glass of chilled white wine while I soak my ankle in the essence of lavender flowers, one of the many herbal therapies I am currently using to bring my tendon back to an active life.

Salute! Cheers/To my health!

No comments:

Post a Comment