These were my daily walking aids for six years. I loved them. I do not walk gently (partly due to the nature of my disability and partly because specialized adult orthotics, braces, etc. are too hard to obtain). I’m still more than 100 pounds under the weight limit. I thought they’d outlive me. Carbon fiber isn’t supposed to snap like this.

I bought these crutches in 2017 for my last proper vacation. Today they met their end on my last day in Cancun. I’ve swum. I’ve rested. I’ve avoided sunburn. But it might be hot enough to melt carbon fiber outside.

I've been using speech recognition for 25 years, but I still struggle with proofreading. I remember what I've spoken, and I forget that computers aren't very good at inferring meaning from context. I also need to work on my pronunciation.