May 7, 2013 Improvements

Last night I had a couple of interesting dreams:

Dream 1:  I was able to squat, bending my knees completely with absolutely no pain.

I find this one particularly interesting because, 7 months post surgery, I am still feeling twinges of pain.  My solution has been to make sure I do extra squats and other exercises I did during PT to try to get the knee moving more freely again on my 3 days a week at the gym.  This is, of course, in addition to 2 to 4 nights a week of dancing.  The bottom line is that I'm ready to be fully functional, and I don't mean the way I was in the months leading up to the knee surgery.  I'm looking at an activity level at least equal to what I could do 20 or 30 years ago.  My doctor told me yesterday that I am not anything close to old, and that 50 is the new 30.  I believe her and my body should too!  

Dream 2:  I was living in a remote area which was at risk for wild fires.  During a fire, the firemen came to fight a fire where my house was located, and I told them not to worry as I'd installed a sprinkler system.  They told me that the heat of the fire would render the sensors useless.  I directed their attention to an area high above the house and surrounding area where what looked like extremely tall telephone poles were connected by what appeared to be a web of wires, and as they watched, it started to mist at first.  They scoffed, saying that wouldn't do much for the fire.  The mist soon turned to a heavy downpour, at which point, they took me seriously and realized their services were better used elsewhere as I had everything under control.

Again, not a surprising dream given the 28,000 acre brush fire not far from my office which they are now mopping up.  Although I know that the rugged terrain which surrounds us out here needs to be burned off periodically to get rid of the dried and decaying undergrowth, I also think about Heather's dream to have an animal rescue and know that in order to do what she wants to do, it will have to be somewhere remote where fire danger may well be a serious consideration.  I'm clearly trying to work out solutions which would protect her rescues.

I'm really starting to take falling in like with my day job very seriously.  I'm finding that my level of enthusiasm is increasing daily as I find more things about my job which are preparing me for the next, new challenge!  In fact, I seem to have a more positive outlook about future events than the people I work for!  How's that for getting extra motivated?  I know I can't change the culture, but I can certainly be a positive influence on the people around me, and hopefully, cheer us on towards our best performances ever on tasks where we are having to really learn them as we go!

What is especially gratifying is that we are learning from previous mistakes, taking them to heart and implementing improvements.  Although it's a painful way to learn, it is highly effective, and we're finding that we put our heads together to ensure that those lessons really are learned and hopefully, don't have to be repeated.

So I end the day with thoughts of very happy knees, fire protection for rescued animals and continued improvement in my work environment.  Not bad for a day's work, if you ask me!

My gratitudes tonight are:
1. I am grateful for improvements.
2. I am grateful for green lights and clear traffic both to and from work.
3. I am grateful for miniature cartons of Haagen Daz coconut macaroon ice cream, a guilty pleasure in a guilt-free size.
4. I am grateful for Loki's continued improvement, health-wise, and her own efforts to help us help her.
5. I am grateful for life's lessons which only make me stronger, smarter and happier.

Love and light.