Time for Myself - update

It's ironic that I had a calendar task set to update the Time for Myself goal since yesterday was  a realization that I'm going to have much time to myself!   But its a different kind of goal :-)

Yes, as yesterday's post pointed out, I don't have a lot of family support and I don't expect to be spending time with any of them anytime soon so I do have a lot of time to myself.  Yes, I'll do Easter brunch with my Dad, and yes there are multiple graduations that I'll be included in this spring.  But overall they are not going to call me to invite me to hang out with them.  I've got to let that go and move on.  

Anyway, this is a different type of time to myself.  Its the rejuvenating time to 'sharpen the saw' as Stephen Covey wrote about in 8 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Last Friday I had minor knee surgery to repair the torn meniscus in my right knee.  That has altered some of my plans.  I'm still waiting for the first follow up visit, but the pre-surgery assessment was that it would be about 8 weeks before I could be hiking, biking, and jogging at my prior levels.   This cuts out a lot of Spring hiking for me (which does make me sad).   I decided against the planned trip to Arizona and Utah national parks.   I even had to cancel my plans for a weekend trip to St Louis.   So I'm starting over on planning these days,  and right now only focused on March and April.   I'll wait to see how I am in May with the rehab before planning any additional days.

To recap:
January - day trip to Appleton to see the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit at their History Museum. 
February - day trip to Lake Geneva's Winterfest to see the national snow carving competition and hiked a trail at Big Foot Beach State Park that they light by luminaries

And moving forward:
March -I've selected Sunday, March 24 as a day to celebrate Wally.  Unfortunately his day falls on Palm Sunday which means I have other commitments.  Last year I did a movie (Warhorse) and hike - it was good and I needed it.  This year will not have any hiking - its both too cold compared to last year, and my knee is in no shape to tackle the black trail at Laphem Peak.   I'm thinking of a double feature movie day - the weather will be around 30F and I can't do a lot of walking, so that takes out both outdoor activities and museums, etc.   The Budget theater has better movies (Life of Pi, The Hobbit, Lincoln, etc) than the local Marcus, but the Marcus has better food options for being able to make a day of it.  And neither have their Sunday schedule online yet.  I'll wait and see.  It is not what I wanted for my memorial day, but I'm confident I can make it work.  


April -Still considering the mega hike at Starved Rock State Park.  I need to get the doctor's blessing on this before I commit the money.   If he doesn't think I'll be well enough for 13 miles of hiking, then I'll switch over to the long put off trip to Spring Green - House on the Rock, Cave of the Mounds, etc.