A great story.
I understand the nurse saying ‘you’re so tall!’ I lived in an apartment complex where a lot of guys coming back from Iraq were living on military set-aside while being treated at Walter Reed.
One of them was a beautiful young man whom I’d only seen sitting down or in a wheelchair - he had lost a leg. One day months after I’d met him, I was waiting for the elevator and when it opened, this gorgeous blonde vision, well over six feet tall, in a beautiful summer business suit, stepped out. I’d had no idea how tall he was, before I saw him with his prosthesis. He looked like an angel, suddenly standing there in the elevator door; it was kind of surreal.
I was always impressed with the equanimity and good grace that he showed throughout what had been a terrible ordeal.
You’re a very talented writer, and manage a lot of humor in the telling of a difficult experience. I laughed out loud at the vision of ‘ghost ships prowling the sea’ :-)
Thank you for your service.
Nobody could figure out why our upper body strength was so good...