“Telling someone about what a symbol means is like telling someone how music should make them feel.”

I feel so loved lately.  I want to thank everyone again for the cards, flowers, and messages I've been lucky to receive.  This would be infinitely harder if I didn't know how much love and support my family, friends, and community have for me.  Thank you all so, SO much! <3


So proud of my Blueshirt boys!  Also, I want a Staal brother.  My sister claimed Carl Hagelin back when he was still a draft, so any Staal that isn't already married, I'll gladly take.  


Side note-- I feel WAY less bad about all the losing Northeastern did to Boston College since Kreider is now a solid rock on the Rangers.  We'll get 'em next year, Huskies. 


I can't wait to be back during hockey season at Northeastern.   Pep band and hockey and then all may frandz hangin out an bein silly afterwards sounds delightful.  


Besides the mouth situation (it feels like I'm walking around with a cinderblock clamped between my jaws), my days have been enjoyable.  I've been watching lots of Friends, Seinfeld, and How I Met Your Mother.  Additionally, I'm about a hundred pages away from finishing The Da Vinci Code, which is an utterly fantastic read.  It's been a long time since I've read something so gripping.  It's not my usual genre or style, so I'm intrigued by my own interest in the thing.  It's a historical fiction novel that calls the Roman Catholic Church--not the Catholic faith, but the historical administration of the church-- into serious questioning via ACTUAL secret societies, historical events, histories of symbols and icons, and seemingly insignificant details in the masterpieces of Da Vinci.  Where fact and fiction collide, I'm starting to wonder.  I may do some research once I finish this thing.  After this, it's back to Dante's Inferno, then a short novel by the author of Life of Pi, entitled Beatrice and Virgil.  I'm interested since those are the names of Dante's (sort-of) lover and guardian angel, respectively.  It's actually about a donkey and a monkey, but with a title like that, there must be some interesting connections.  


Also, with so much focus on the Holy Grail in Da Vinci Code, I was inspired to watch Monty Python for the first time.  It is very, very silly.  I was caught off-guard by the "Sir Galahad, the Chaste."  WHERE did "Why, Mister Galahad..." come from, Andy?!  On that note, I love the titles of Andy's blog entries, even though (or especially because?) they don't make sense until you finish reading the blog.  The most recent, entitled something to do with "48 Johannas" got me really excited momentarily.  Having 47 other Sabrinas wandering around could be totally entertaining.


So with all this loafing around and having my butt planted in a recliner LITERALLY 18 hours a day, I'm still managing to lose weight thanks to the "chicken soup and chocolate milk" diet.  I'm down six and a half pounds from Surgery Day!  At roughly 1000 liquid calories plus about a liter of liquid medications dispersed over each day, I am starting to miss real food.  Today was the first day I've been properly hungry since the surgery.  I guess that means my body's that much closer to being normal again, but being able to WANT food again puts me no closer to being ABLE to eat food again.  Other things are pretty much normal again-- swelling has gone down intensely, I can shower normally, no dizzy or light-headed spells, and I'm even feeling good enough to do my hair and makeup again.  I'm thinking it'll get much better after this first week.  Apparently during the surgery, my jaw shattered in an extra spot, meaning the process took an extra hour and I have one more titanium bracket than was planned.  I should have come out able to open to my jaw but I've been instructed not to.  I visit the doctor tomorrow, so we'll see what changes in my diet and abilities.  


If I try really hard, smelling good food is almost as good as having some.  For instance, last night we got Greek takeout for Mother's Day.  Just sitting there and basking in all the aromas of what I'm sure was a delicious meal for everyone else without gorging on the exorbitant amount of calories I surely would have incurred if I'd been capable to eat was almost even refreshing!  Even now, as Dad and Eric munch on Doritos during Period Three of Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals (Rangers and Devils at MSG), I can enjoy them without bearing the burden of 600 extra calories.  I realize this is the flimsiest silver lining ever, but for a girl who has 44 more days until her eating habits can return to normal, it's the best I can do.  


My biggest complaint after the pain, discomfort, and medication schedule is how removed I feel from real life.  I haven't left the house or hung out with anyone in the last six days, save 20 minutes of catching up with Rebecca and a lot of time with my surgeon.  I haven't seen anyone from Northeastern or Smithtown in person, giving me this weird sense of reclusiveness from everything.  As soon as my face stops looking like a teenage mutant ninja turtle, I'm excited to reinitiate Google Plus video chats with my Tremont Street Raiders and future Suities and have all my beloved Smithtown sweethearts come visit me.  Cheers, guys!