Tomorrow might just be a big day for Maria and me.

Early Thursday morning, we are headed out to see Dr. Daly (and get blood work along the way) to check on my toe a week after surgery and see if it is healed. If it is healed, this will be a big step towards some return to a normal life. The long fight for my foot might be over; perhaps, I just have another week or two of monitoring.

I’ve been awaiting her judgment for years, she is a truth-teller, and I admit I’m a little on the nervous side, although the food looks and feels great.

Normal means regular shoes, taking shoes, skipping bandages and anti-biotic ointments, and most importantly, walking again in the way I’ve always loved and wanted to do. The surgical bandage fell off last night, so Maria had to change it. It’s my first look at it since the surgery. Since I can’t see the bottom of my foot, Maria takes photographs with my Iphone.

We both thought it looks good, but we have been wrong before.  We’ll wait for Dr. Daly to say it before we believe it.

I feel good about all of this and hopeful. It’s time.

David Missiner is hard at work on my new brace, which is expected to make a huge difference. A lot of disruption, pain, and struggle, but I feel both hopeful and good about it. Thanks for all the support you have offered to me and Maria (and may still be needed yet) I’ve learned a lot, and I believe I’ve gained a lot.

I might be out of surgical boots for the first time in many months.

To me, that makes it all worthwhile. Wish me luck. I’ll see you this afternoon. Above, a new flower, I just bought it today. I really like it, and I don’t know its name.

The poppies are my most inspiring flower. They never quit, they always pop up.

My new flowers (coreopsis) are always hopeful, reaching upward. Me, too, hopefully.

I love mixing up the colors of flowers; they radiate beauty and hope.

There’s always dining and being born in my garden beds. This one is about growing and giving birth. You almost want to drop crumbs or worms into their mouths.

I m fond of these small flowers, they are all about color.