Zurich, Switzerland

I reached the lake again using the wheelchair path

Dear Delyara, Before my spinal injury, I walked around the lake every Sunday. Afterward, I stopped going because the route I loved had steps and gravel. Rehabilitation focused first on much bigger things, but I kept mentioning the lake. My occupational therapist found an accessible route I had never known existed. Today, my sister and I went. It takes longer and comes in from the opposite side, so nothing looked exactly as memory expected. That bothered me for ten minutes. Then we reached the water. Ducks were fighting over bread. Children were screaming. A man was sunbathing in weather nowhere near warm enough. Ordinary lake nonsense. I sat there for nearly an hour. Nature did not give me my old walk back. It gave me another route to the same water. I am learning not every return has to use the door I originally entered through.