As I spit out the suds of the toothpaste and looked back up at the medicine cabinet mirror, I noticed that my body was a bit different than before. Actually, I have been noticing it for awhile. My daughter grabbed my arm the other day and said "Mom, where did you get those muscles?" Seven years post elbow replacement (yes... I have a fake elbow) my tricep was finally sore the other day. During the surgery, the surgeon has a hard time "rehanging" my arm, and had to cut through the tricep. I worked hard at physical therapy and took no pain medication to speed up the process of recovery because we were adopting my daughter later that year. I never worked so hard at anything in my life, but it would not fire. My ulna has a metal rod screwed into it that you can actually feel under my skin. This is a constant reminder of a moment you'd like to redact and the months it took just to get it to be able to open a door. As most of my best (and worst) decisions in life...