Well, my reserves were low, so for long stretches I was in absentia.
During the arduous stretches, I dipped into the biographies and memoirs of the writers I admired.
For long stretches I felt like I was perpetually walking to catch a bus I was doomed never to take.
Once you take silicone off, it stretches; I probably wouldn't have been able to reshoot without having another cast made.
And while I enjoy exercising for 30- or 40-minute stretches, I also learned from six months of marathon training that devoting one to two hours a day to exercise takes an impossible toll on my family life.
To me, each represented a fresh challenge: I lost my timing on long traverses, I lost my bearings on the faster stretches, I lost my dignity on a regular basis.
Like most patients who have undergone spinal fusions, I continued to have persistent lower-back pain afterward: I couldn't run, I couldn't drive for long stretches, I couldn't carry heavy grocery bags.
Of the stretches I managed to hear, the best performances were given by folk singers, representing where she originally came from, and jazz performers, representing where she has inevitably been heading.
