It's been one year, one God forsaken year later, since the accident that claimed the life of her fiance and maimed her -- and Sara Beth doesn't know when, or if, she'll get used to this view.
Having one leg, a very short "stump" and using crutches to get everywhere still feels foreign to her, just like the first day she learned to walk on the damned things.
But then, as she snaps this picture with her stump too short to use a prosthetic, a smile crosses Sara Beth's face. She had always wondered what life would be like as a one-legged woman and even began looking into how she could lose her leg without raising suspicion of everyone in her family. She even pretended to have one leg a few times in her teen years, driving to a town where she was certain no one would know her and catch her in the act. All hell would break loose if she had to explain to her parents why she had her leg bound behind her at the mall. That was a talk Sara Beth wasn't ready to have, maybe ever, because she knew her family would never understand.
And then the accident happened. Her leg, what was left of it after she and Greg were slammed into on the highway one year ago tonight, couldn't be saved. She remembers waking up in the hospital a few days later, but had and still has no memory of the wreck. Her parents told her Greg didn't survive and it sent Sara Beth into a tailspin for several days.
She also quickly realized something wasn't quite right with her left foot. it itched and burned like crazy, but her mom stopped her from reaching down to scratch it, preventing her daughter from seeing just how badly she was hurt. Sara Beth later learned this was called phantom pain, meaning her mind still felt her leg was there.
As the days went along and Sara Beth's recovery started, she wanted to see what was left of her leg. Her mom, while changing her daughter's bandaged "stump," let Sara Beth look at and massage her shortened limb. It was still very tender to the touch, so Sara Beth was careful when she touched it.
Sara Beth was eventually transferred to a rehab facility, where she learned how to live life as she used to imagine it: as a beautiful woman with one leg.
It's not the way she imagined it happening, and especially not at the cost of losing her best friend and fiance who she was about to marry.
But here she is, one year later.