I continue with PT on my shoulder. I have gained a lot of range of motion but I am not where I want to be yet It’s been six months. When I walk through the doors at my PT center, I feel like Norm from Cheers. Everybody knows my name.

Fred and Jo have been caring for me well and I will miss them if I ever get to stop going to PT. They are very cheery. No matter how much they make me wince, they keep on smiling.

Every time I go, Jo has written a new joke of the day or riddle on the whiteboard. Today’s was, “how do you tie a knot in a string while holding one end in each hand without letting go?”

I have literally been practicing to respond to this riddle all of my life. I told her that my dad is a magician and I know how to do it. She said she did, too, and demonstrated. It was not elegant like my dad taught me.

“Let the magician’s daughter show you how it’s done,” I said. I took her rope and made my dad proud. Voilà!

Fred was entranced. He had to know how to do it. I showed them several times, just like my dad always did. Then one at a time, I handed them the rope and watched them fail. This was the most fun I ever had at PT!

I took pity on Fred. He kept coming up to me and asking me to show him one more time. He interrupted my pulley workout, my weights. and my stretches. Finally, I did it in slow motion, and before long Fred, too, was ever so clumsily tying a knot in the rope. He was so proud. I told him now he needed to practice. “Give me 10 reps,” I said. “Maybe you’ll master this before I’m released from here forever.”

There are some bright spots in these PT days after all!