Tuesday, 14 October 2003 | Tony Toni Tone

He wears his pants high on his waist, he has a thick head of gray curly hair, and he tells unrelentingly bad but well-meaning jokes that make you feel a tinge of guilt (or maybe it's embarrassment) if you don't laugh. (So you produce a little forced something, even if it's just a half-smile.) He is Tony and he is FRIENDLY.

I'm going to be spending lots of time with Tony; he's the one who will watch my arm slowly return to normal and who will chide me for not doing my exercises more faithfully. He will pull my hand toward him and then away from him (he's terribly indecisive), and he will remind me to be sure to tell him "when," when I feel the muscles in my arm protest.

On Monday we had a physical therapy lesson mixed with an English grammar lesson. It started when he asked me to explain the difference between "lying" and "laying," as in, "Do ten repetitions of this exercise while (lying/laying) down." Which led to a discussion about where to put punctuation in relation to quotation marks, something he said has always confused him. I'm not sure how he knew that I knew.

In exchange, he promised to teach me how to better wrap my Ace bandage, and I gave him a little half-smile. I think his giving me my arm back is plenty.