Once a week I take my little niece so my sister can study for the nursing program she is going into. As February and March are the best beach times in Florida I got myself together and took her to the beach where we had a great time. She gave me a bit of a hard time for my modest, retro-looking one piece suit, and talked me into approaching the chilly water. She was right, I did get used to it, and with utmost vigilance walked next to her in the wavy water as she swam down the beach three-quaters of a mile. We had an over-priced but pleasant lunch and went back, taking time out to chat with a nice lady who had one leg and one artificial limb.
When the lady approached the lunch/ shower area my niece was transfixed by her appearance. She came over to me and asked if we could go talk to the lady, because my niece hoped she would feel better soon. Talk about heart-melting! We found her after we were done eating, and chatted for a while. The lady, Gertie, was nice. Her story was awful. The reason she only had one leg was due to a knee replacement done wrong that triggered a life-threatening infection. I tried to keep that transfer of information as subtle as possible, as my neice has severe allergies and has to go to the hospital at times. I don't want her terrified.
After we said goodbye to Gertie we caught up with a little girl we had passed on the way there, and the two girls played in the water briefly until I found out that it was almost time for our parking to expire. It was a nice, Vitamin D filled and moderately active day. You can't imagine how proud I am of the caring way she reacted to the woman with the artificial limb.
Home now, and physically feel like crap. If I don't train tomorrow I'll feel bad about myself.
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