unable to keep it all in....

Hello lovely folks…

    I just wanted to stop and make a short reflection/announcement.  The announcement is that I appreciate everyone’s help these past few weeks when I’ve been less than mobile.  Also, I was delighted today at Sarah’s suggestion to get a wheelchair from health services-good call!  Now I get to go for long “walks” and can easily spend more time outside.  The reflection is that being in a wheel chair has gotten quite a mixed reaction.  It seems the looks of pity are certainly more intense and people are more likely to open a door for you (as compared to a person on crutches, in my experience).  Also, people have generally thought my injury had gotten a lot worse because I was in the chair, which seems logical enough.  Some folks seem uncomfortable with it and avoid eye contact a little.  Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but it certainly is an interesting social experiment—to be in someone else’s shoes.  It makes me wonder how I normally act towards people in wheelchairs and with other various impairments.  Also interesting is that now I am in tune to a whole different world.  I notice sidewalk conditions, slippery spots, door openers that are broken, etc.  Which makes me wonder beyond physical impairments… what other “shoes” would be very different to wear?  What-really-is it like to be a minority?  What is it like to have a developmental disability?  What is it like to have a mental disability or a mental illness?  What is it like to be a single mom?  What is it like to be extremely rich or poor?  What is it like to have a facial scar?  Hmmm… this has certainly been an eye opening experience. 

 

Thankful list:

-Andrew for wheeling me up to dinner with Les, Kati, David, Rachel and Joe

-Kati for her various “working leg” favors

-Sarah for getting me outside and out of my little funk

-Amelia for dancing with me, okay, so she did most of the dancing

-Meike for heartfelt chattin’ and wheel-chair appreciation

-My favorite nurse, Bonnie, who told me the wheel chair I checked out was “Older than Jesus”

-tea on chilly days

-laughter

-breakfast pancakes

-sleeping bags

-sleeping downstairs to avoid the steps

-many offers to help me pack

-Corrie who taught me her banjo song today