April 24th

Every now and then I'll run into someone I haven't seen in a while and they'll say, "Hey - did you have that hip thing done yet?" and I'll smile and say no, April 24th, and it always sort of surprises me on two levels. Firstly that the other person seriously thinks I would be up and walking and going about my life so soon (although this is probably my own downplaying of the seriousness of the situation) and secondly that the entire world could not be aware that everything is coming to an end (beginning? begending?) on April 24th. It stands out for me the way a birthday does. I see a billboard for a new movie coming out on April 20th and my first thought is "4 days before". People talk about plans in May and I calibrate where I guess I will be in my recovery and whether I can join them. Someone compared this surgery to a bomb going off in your leg. In my head it already feels like D-Day.