Happy Boots Day!

Mile Marker 277:

Boots Day?  Not quite the holiday you were expecting??  

In my short time as an amputee, I've learned that adding another pair of shoes to my wardrobe is a cause for celebration. 

My boots aren’t fancy, nor are they new.  They’re plain black leather with simple silver buckles.  The soles are worn.  The black polish is scuffed.  The zippers stick each time I yank them up. 

They’ve been through a lot with me.

They even survived the accident, hiding inside my backpack that morning.

My mom describes how she kept my backpack by her side during that long first day of surgery at the hospital.   And how, much later, she slowly unpacked my "black boots" at home.  She says those words sweetly as if caressing them with her voice. 

Even now, I imagine how she looked at my boots while I lay unconscious for so many days in the Critical Care Unit.  What those boots meant to her.  How they reminded her of the person I was before. 

But my brother Mark tells a different story.  During those months in the hospital he put his faith in BOOST, not boots.

Boost is the high-calorie protein drink that was delivered to my hospital room 4 times per day.  It came in flavors resembling vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry -- flavors that never quite hit the mark.  By evening, those red bottles lined up along my bedside table, unopened.  

To my touchy tastebuds, Boost became bacon's arch nemesis.

Everyone encouraged me to drink the stuff, but my brother Mark took a different tactic.  He celebrated it!  At random hours of the day, my cell phone beeped with enticements.   Mark ran a creative campaign.  Day and night, he bombarded me with little known tidbits from the Boost archives.

Did you know that Boost was the driving force behind the founding of Philadelphia?

(Click photos to read captions)

How about the election of President Obama?? 

According to Mark, EVERYONE drank Boost.

From my very first idol, Bobby Clarke --
to my pip squeak protégée, Riley Cate!

Apparently, Boost was as critical to survival as blood!

I looked forward to my next Boost announcement.  Where would Boost turn up next?  An MRI scanner?  My IV pole?

Each day in the hospital became BOOST DAY.

But I am proud to say it’s been almost 10 months since I’ve sipped my last Boost.   And today, I wore my BOOTS for 10 hours straight.

Not a bad exchange.

See, before today, each time I tried on my boots, I got only as far as the living room.  After the third or fourth stumble, I always took them off.

But yesterday morning, there was snow on the ground. 

So today I decided it was time to LEARN to wear my boots. 

I started at the place I've learned most everything else:  the rehab gym.   PT Deb suggested a toe-pad for them, and “MacGyver” Paul glued some sticky stuff to their sole.   Then we hit the treadmill.  (In my t-shirt, shorts, and boots, I can only hope I set the newest fashion trend!)

Later, my boots and I took to the street with friends Mary and Chris, who coincidentally wore their boots, too.

Afterward I ran into Mike and Vickie, some friends from rehab.  Vickie's also an amputee, just a few months behind me.  Yes, I assured her.  You’ll wear boots, too. 

So today it's Happy Boots Day...or Boost Day...  

Celebrating all those forces that keep me moving!

(Including my favorite Boost-er!)

And check out those boots!