Thanksgiving in the South!

Before knowing about my surgery my family had planned to go to South Carolina to visit my sister, Amanda, over the Thanksgiving holiday. She moved around August to begin her first year of seminary school at Trinity Lutheran in Columbia, SC. I was about three weeks post surgery and had to make the flight with crutches which proved to be somewhat difficult with the huge amount of people traveling. Thank goodness for wheelchairs though! I was definitely getting sore being up so much and using the crutches. I think my arms and ribs were bruised from using them so much, but the trip went smoothly and it was great to be with my sister again.

The first day we were in South Carolina we went into Charleston and did a horse carriage tour around the town as well as a boat tour. The town is very historic and there was a lot to see and learn about. Thankfully the carriage tour was able to keep me from walking too much with the crutches. After a long day of touring we headed to Edisto where we would be staying for Thanksgiving at a family friends house. The house was very close to the beach and although it was a little chilly it was still amazing to put my feet in the ocean and walk/crutch along the beach. We had some family friends from Florida drive up and spend Thanksgiving with us and it was nice to have a small and low key day to relax and get some homework done as well as spend time with family and friends.

My good friend, Caitlin Flathers, that I met through competing and training for Pentathlon would be getting married the day after Thanksgiving in Virginia. Since I was already close I decided to make two trips in one and go to the wedding. I was worried about making the trip alone since I was on crutches still, but thankfully I was able to get some help with my bags and get to Virginia and the wedding safely. I was able to see and catch up with another friend of mine, Emily Andrews, that I did Pentathlon with as well since she would be driving from New Jersey. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I was so happy that I was able to be there for the wedding and catch up with good friends after being apart for so long.

I connected with my parents on one of the flights back and thankfully wasn't having any problems with my hip. I was worried that the traveling would set me back and hinder the recovery but I was still able to keep up with my exercises on the trip and continue the recovery.