29 Days of Defeat. One Morning of Glory.

Four weeks post-surgery. Fifteen minutes. Worth every second.

Four weeks ago today, I had major surgery. And if you know me at all, you know that does not compute with who I am. I am a person who is wired for action — I move fast, I problem-solve, I make things happen. Sitting still is not in my vocabulary. Waiting is not one of my strengths. And yet, here I was, completely at the mercy of my own recovering body.

Recovery from significant physical trauma has a way of humbling you in the most specific, unexpected ways. For me, it showed up in the form of socks.Yes, you heard me. Socks!

Compression socks — the kind that are nearly impossible to get on even with full range of motion and two helping hands — became my daily mountain. Every single morning, I had to time my whole routine around one question: Who is available to put my socks on? Mike had to do it before he left for work. Mikey had to do it before school. I was completely dependent on their schedules, their availability, their willingness to bend down and wrestle compression fabric onto their mother’s/wife’s feet. I couldn’t put them on. I couldn’t take them off. I was stuck.

And here’s the thing about being an independent, action-biased person forced into dependence — you can’t just willpower your way through it. You can’t push your body into healing faster. You have to actually practice what you preach. For me, that meant going back to the HeroValues we teach our campers at Perfectly Me Hero Camps every single summer.

LIVING MY HEROVALUES WHEN IT’S REALLY HARD

I had to use my PATIENCE HeroValue. Real patience — not the performative “I’ll wait my turn” kind, but the deep, uncomfortable kind where you genuinely cannot control the timeline and you have to make peace with that. I had to wait. I had to ask for help. I had to trust that my people would show up for me. (And they did — every single day.) One week Mikey was on spring break, and that little gift of reduced pressure felt like a full exhale.

Then yesterday, my surgeon cleared me from the compression socks. I cannot describe the joy. I immediately called on my CURIOSITY HeroValue and figured out how to use a device not designed for socks but for putting your pants on — and I got those compression socks off myself for the first time. Last night. Alone. I cannot overstate how freeing that felt. I literally felt relief!!!

But, this morning was the real test.

Regular socks. Just regular socks. Something I have done approximately 15,000 times in my life without a second thought.

It took fifteen minutes. It hurt. It was hard. My body pushed back every step of the way.

I used every ounce of my PERSEVERANCE I had. I didn’t quit. I didn’t call for help. I stayed in it.

And I did it. I put my own socks on! I WON!!! The socks had won for 29 days straight but not today!!!

We teach kids at Perfectly Me Hero Camps that HeroValues aren’t just character traits — they’re tools you pick up and use when things get hard. Patience. Curiosity. Perseverance. I’ve built an entire curriculum around them. I’ve said the words hundreds of times. But there is something deeply different about living inside them when you’re injured and the stakes feel so high and the challenge seems insurmountable.

I’m not all the way there yet. Recovery is still happening, one day and one small victory at a time. But today I’m celebrating this one: fifteen minutes, a “little” pain, and a whole lot of heart. If you’ve ever had a moment where something small felt enormous — where the ordinary became the extraordinary — then you already understand.

The socks were never really about the socks.

Here’s to every small win on the road back to yourself.