She took a slow, deep breath, mentally visualizing everything he said, and then released it.
“Do that several more times,” he said.
When she was done, she said, “That feels weird.”
“It does, but you have to get the air all through your lungs and start to straighten up that chest.”
“What does the chest have to do with walking on my feet?”
“Well, the feet are a problem all on their own,” he said, laughing. “And we’ll start with the feet, and then we have to make sure the hips are in the right alignment. But you also have to be breathing properly.” And he did something else. “I want you to lie down. I’ll work on your ankles a little bit.”
She lay down, and he quickly worked on some of her joints, and the muscles around the joints, and then he gave her a hand back up. “I want you to take a few steps.”
She took a few steps, feeling her body shifting, almost as if uncoordinated, as it settled into what the new placement of her feet were. And then she turned around and slowly walked back. “It feels a whole lot better already,” she said. “Why didn’t we do this at the beginning?”
“You weren’t quite ready,” he said. “I had today scheduled for a new video to check to see what was next to work on. And obviously what we’ll work on is keeping your posture straight and building up these muscles so that you can walk farther and farther. From here on in, I want you to make sure that you walk every day. It’s okay to take it slow, to walk slowly as you gain strength. You can even use one crutch if you feel you need the extra support. But I want you to remember a couple of these lessons as we work through them today, so that you can practice them when you’re back in your room.”
“So, am I supposed to walk into the dining room tonight this way?”
“It would be good if you did, yes,” he said, studying her face.
She winced. “And what if I fall and wipe out because I can’t stand straight?”
“I think you’ll be surprised,” he said. “If you want, I’ll meet you there, and we’ll see how it is together.”
She smiled. “It’s like you’re becoming my crutch,” she said teasingly.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be a crutch, because that’s something that you lean on,” he said. “It would be much better if I was the one who’s there, someone you know you can count on.”
She stopped, looked at him in amazement, and said, “Oh, I like that. I really like that.”
The trouble was, when it came time that evening to walk to dinner, she was a little tired, a little worried, struggling with her breathing, as she took several steps forward. By the time she made it to the dining room, she pulled up against the doorjamb and just leaned against it for a few minutes. It wasn’t that she was tired, but she wanted to walk in okay and not get jostled or bounced by other people. Just then she looked over to see Dani coming up beside her.
Dani smiled and said, “It’s good to see you on your feet.”
Her voice was so warm and held such admiration in it that Melissa immediately felt like confessing. “I’m leaning here,” she said, “because I’m afraid I’ll fall down.”
“Are you sure?” Dani asked quietly, her gaze twinkling. “Or is it because you’re afraid you’ll look a fool?”
Melissa wrinkled her nose up at that. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
“You’ve no idea how many people have stood in this exact same place, whether on crutches, in a wheelchair, or on their own two feet, because they were afraid to either make a fool of themselves or just completely fail at something so simple as getting a meal,” she said. “There is no failure here. Remember that.” And, with that, she walked ahead of her.
Shane’s warm voice behind her made her feel even better. “It’s good to see you standing. Dani was right. There is no failure here,” he said. He held out his arm, as if they were on a date, and said, “Shall we go in for dinner?”
She laughed in delight, slipped her arm through his, and said, “Do I get to use you for support, if I need it?”
“Absolutely, if you need it,” he said, “but you won’t.”
And they moved slowly forward, grateful that the line was moving to the point that, when they got up to where Dennis stood, a huge grin on his face as he saw her on her feet, that she felt like she had the whole world in front of her.
“Don’t you look lovely,” Dennis said, with a beaming smile.
“What? I didn’t look lovely sitting down?”
He laughed and laughed, making her chuckle. “It’s good to see a sense of humor too,” he said. “Remember. Life isn’t about always having a success. Life is always about making every day better than the one before. We often wake up in the morning and think absolutely nothing is good in our world, but it’s all about making it through anyway and making something good about it. So, it is lovely to see you. Now what can I get you for food?”
With the two of them together and their meals sitting in front of them, she grabbed her tray and said to Shane, “Well, here goes nothing.”
“You’ll be fine.”
He led the way to a table in a route that was open and wide, and she slowly followed, working carefully on placing her feet properly and keeping her body upright. It’s not that she wouldn’t fall, but she was afraid she’d immediately revert to that hunchback-crab walk that she’d been doing.
But she made it to the table, even managed to bend down and place the tray carefully
