When I returned home the other day after my knee surgery, I found this fire-breathing friend waiting for me on my favorite spot on the sofa. Next to him was a card that reads: “Stop dragon your crutches around. Soon you’ll be frolicking in the autumn mist.” I suspect that this came from my pun-loving, punctuationally-perfect sister, Eilish.

As I slowly try to get back up to full throttle, my new friend, Puff the Purple, is sitting next to me, cheering me on: “Knee knee hooray!” (Anyone have a better cheer to teach Puff? This one is kind of weird.)