Can We Call It Running?

Hmmmm...that might be an overstatement, but I was doing more than walking today on my walk with Wrigley. I decided it was about time to give it a try. Every time that I have done a little push off with the ankle, it hurt a bit, so I think that caused me to really fear trying out running. After being admonished this weekend to give it a try, I decided today was just as good as any other day.

I definitely "felt" my ankle while doing it, but I wouldn't call it pain. Just a little discomfort. So, I went for a little while. I nearly had to drag Wrigley though...worthless, I tell ya. He couldn't just support me today? ;-) I finally decided that dragging the dog looked bad, so I went back to walking.

I knew I would probably pay for testing the ankle later on. And yeah, it hurts a bit right now. In places I haven't felt in a while. But that's what happens when you put a little impact on a broken ankle. I will have to ice it down before I go to bed. And I will probably have to wear tennis shoes tomorrow to work. But I need to keep pushing now that I have started this.

Maybe a trip to the gym on Thursday, trying a little more running on the treadmill and a little elliptical. I have taken it easy for a while now...gotta get out of my comfort zone. I may even see if Alison wants to try to hit a few balls to me on the tennis court. I am sure I will suck in ways I don't want to know about, but how great would it feel to have a racquet in my hand again. I told my PT that I had two real goals: to wear heels again (which I do often now) and play tennis again. It's time to get to work on that 2nd one. :-)

The Epilogue of the Great War

I am definitely not Tom Brokaw nor Clint Eastwood...when it comes to honoring those that have died for the causes of America or the world. Being a history buff (dare I say a historian), I do have great respect for the many wars of this country's past as well as the world's past. But by no means, am I usually nostalgic about them and those that fought them. I tend to be a social historian, so hearing about the battles, the bloodshed, the death counts, etc. really don't pique my interest that much. I tend to study the causes, the people, the conditions, the humanity of those situations. Today, in my eyes those two worlds collided.

The last known combatant in World War I died today. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/australia.ww1.veteran.dies/index.html?iref=allsearch He was 110 years old. The last person (out of 70 million) that has a distinct memory of one of the great wars of modern world history. I have watched over the last few years as more and more of those that fought in the first world war died in the very old age. Earlier this year the last American WWI soldier, Frank Buckles, died. And every time an article headline told of another death, I would read the article to learn a small snippet of this soldier's life. I am not sure if I can fully understand why this interests me. But it does.

Maybe it is the stories of each soldier that draw me in. In most instances, the individual is one of humble origins that lived a fairly ordinary life after lying about his age to fight in the war. Who today would ever contemplate lying about his/her age to go fight in a war across the sea? But because they are one of the last live links to this great occurrence in our world's modern history, his life is shared with the world. We lose yet another witness to history.

We mourn those that connect us to the past every day. When a loved one dies. When a friend's mother dies. When we lose a childhood friend. They all take a part of our history with them. We too shall die at some time, taking with us all of our "ordinary" history that binds us with those that love us and touch our lives. That loss of history may not make it in print, but in no way is less important, just less public.

And so today I mourn the loss of a piece of our world's history. The Great War will always be on the pages of a history book and will live on through movies and novels. But we will never again see that time in history through the eyes of one of its participants. We must all witness what is going on in our world today, so someday there will be an article about one of our generation who is the last link to our shared history of today. Witness.