Two birds, two Irishmen

Or "what I named my crutches and why"

This week was centered on my hurt ankle and a visit to the doctor. My legs look like bird legs so I drew a fanciful bird character in my sketchbook over several mornings as I coached myself through things.

My green cast was removed and replaced with a new black boot. I'm now learning to use arm crutches.

There's also a learning curve of new leg care instructions, exercises and physical therapy starts next week. So another bird-legged character appears in my morning sketchbook along with another self-talk coaching phrase.

Back when l illustrated “Dr Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” I learned the self-care technique of naming my feelings, claiming what I can do about the situation and taming my feelings towards manageability. Here's a page from the book…

… and since then I've expanded and adapted this name-claim-tame technique to various situations. Like now: crutches and physical therapy are simply necessary so it helps me deal with my feelings, to have more motivation and a better attitude to give each crutch a silly name. To find two humorous names that I might use I searched my memories for stories or poems or music for a duo of characters and something that makes me laugh. I looked for a short something I could memorize and call to mind during any struggles with crutches or physical therapy.

I remember that there's an old Irish children's rhyme, “Two Irishmen”, that has a character called Peter Murphy. I looked up the rhyme to verify my memory and I laughed out loud. Consequently my left crutch is now named “Peter” and right one is “Murphy”. And suddenly crutches are fun! Here's the text of the rhyme that I've handwritten in one of my sketchbooks so I can memorize it.

But the rhyme “Two Irishmen” is better understood when someone's grandpa sings it. (Be careful of who is within earshot when you play this video …)

And it's even funnier when someone's grandma sings it! (Check your surroundings first then play this…)

All of this lightheartedness helps! Also helpful is Rusty, the dachshund extraordinaire, who supervises me on my short walks around the living room escorted by Peter and Murphy. Rusty specializes in short things and small jobs*.

Hopefully it won't happen this week but if you get hit with a bucket of sh…it's good to close your eyes!

*for more dogs with jobs of various sizes see my recent newsletter 👇