The Woman Who Gave Me Hope

I’m home now from what is becoming my new normal: summer in Prague. Two months to teach about news and news video at a small, English-speaking Czech university called Anglo-americky Vysoka Skola – or Anglo-American University http://www.aauni.edu/ for the non-Czech speaking world. Two months which also include a seminar for Czech businesss managers on Presentation Skills or Media Training or Communication – modalities which flow easily from a reporter-anchor-interviewer’s knowledge. Two months to live as Czechs do, in an apartment my husband and I bought several years ago in what I call the Queens of Prague. In other words, in one of the unfashionable but eminently livable neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts where there is lots of greenery, the best park in Prague, and almost instant access to trams, buses and the Metro.

But this summer was different. This summer I could walk again. And run a little. And climb. And carry groceries. And stand for hours. In short – I was me again – as active as I wanted to be, full of energy, bounding up and down the steep hill to our apartment like I would have 10 years ago – before my knee started on its inevitable journey toward replacement.

But I never found the Prague woman who set me on my new path. I wanted so much to thank her, to hug her and show her my new knee scar and even without a shared language – tell her in ways women understand how much she helped me. She found me last summer – both of us working out at the gym. A woman who was maybe 50 or 55 – full of energy and in great shape She saw me limping around and came striding purposely over – pointing to her knee. I knew enough Czech to understand she had had her knee replaced 8 months before and had already returned to her passion – skiing. She even danced a little for me – just to prove what was now possible.

Through the summer and fall I thought about that woman – and how she had gotten her life back. And slowly I began to think that maybe I too could get my life back. Maybe I too could get a knee replacement.

When I came back to Prague – and the gym in June – I looked for her every day I was there. But I never found her. One of the personal trainers who speaks English thought she knew the woman. And said she would tell her for me. I hope she has. I hope this woman knows that without her very kind overture to a perfect stranger (something Czechs, who are a reserved people, don’t usually do) I might still be miserably limping around today – instead of looking at photos of the Czech mountain I easily climbed 2 weekends ago. I hope this woman knows that she changed my life. And I hope that somehow – she knows that I will never forget her.