Day 2...

At the end of the second day, I can reliably report that rumors of one's legs hurting during the early phases of the transition to typing while standing up are incredibly true.

My only defense is to do what I did back when we still had the store: keep moving. The only major problem with that, however, is that if I'm moving, I'm not working.

Fortunately, today's slug of work was amenable to efficient handling, so I've managed to bag about 5,000 target words for the day despite a 40-minute nap and a 20-minute television break.

Just in time to help with a general feeling of frustration and lack of progress, I saw a segment on the tube the other day about a young man named Kyle Maynard who was born with no arms and no legs and yet handles himself more than adequately on a wrestling mat. From the Collins Hill Wrestling site:

I should've told my son not to stare, but I too was doing exactly that. You see, Kyle Maynard, then just 12 years old, was in the room. After processing the whole scene in my head for a few seconds, I reached the conclusion that Kyle was there merely to support his friends, to try be "one of the guys". "Poor kid" I thought.

Like so many others before and after that night, my conclusions about the boy with no arms or legs were wrong. Blatantly wrong. Kyle was there to compete. Kyle was not to be pitied. Kyle was to be admired. Over the next 6 years, those of us close to the Collins Hill Wrestling program were blessed to witness first-hand the incredible story of Kyle Maynard. We watched him lose...a lot. Then suddenly, it seemed, Kyle started winning...a lot.

The segment was pretty uplifting, as it put a number of things in perspective. My immediate next step was to realize that things are emphatically not so glum, and the habitual optimism I have fallen into over the years took over from there.

I continue to be a work in progress.

Cheers...