Raspberries Came Before the Fall

In which our Heroine recollects life (right) before surgery. 

The other day, I was thinking back to what I did just before I went blueberry picking in Hatcher’s Pass—wondering, in effect, what my life had been like.  You see, I am constantly getting grilled on whether things are back to normal yet.  The answer is no, of course not.  I feel better, certainly, but even when you consider how unhealthy I felt before we found the tumor, I am still physically much too tired to measure up to the day before it all began.  That Wednesday, I remember working hard all day long, rounding up my day with a meeting for my calling at 7 pm and then afterward picking raspberries at my in-law’s house.   I was wearing a head-lamp by the time I got done, somewhere around 11 pm.  It was a long and exhausting day, but fulfilling.  I woke the next morning with a headache behind my right eye, which I double dosed with some Ibuprofen and blissfully went blueberry picking.  Not very self-aware, I’ll admit, but that’s how things were right before the heroine fell.