Skip to main content

When it snows and blows

 be careful what you wish/pray for.

On Christmas Eve, I was lamenting the lack of snow.

"When it's winter, I'd rather there was snow on the ground," I mused, "instead of this ugly grayness."

Well, there's snow on the ground and plenty of it. In fact, I estimate about 250 inches (though we all know how bad I am at math) and there's more coming down and even more in the forecast.

Looking out, it's kind of pretty. Like a snow globe. As a four-wheeler, I feel though almost trapped inside that snow globe because traversing the snow is difficult and messy in a wheelchair. Imagine pushing a stroller through a sandy beach and you have an inkling about the challenges of propelling my chair through deep snow.

And sometimes, getting the snow off the wheels of the chair is a frustrating task. I towel off the wheels, but they are still a little wet and/or dirty. Imagine coming in from the snow, wiping your boots on a mat but then walking in to the house with those boots still on. They'd surely make a wee bit of a mess on the floors. Now you have an inkling of the additional challenge presented by coming in with a wheelchair from the snow covered walks.

And those are just a couple reasons why being a four-wheeler  in the snowy winter is a challenge.

Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Ten Year

When I was in junior high school, I staged a sit-in and learned about 'ten year'. This will come as a total surprise to most of you readers - I was not a perfectly well behaved child. I know, I know - you're shocked, amazed, in wonder how I could have turned out to be so well-behaved despite the oats sown in my youth.  And the sit-in is a perfect example of how I marched to the beat of my own drummer. Miss Brown was an English teacher - and not a very popular one. She would invoke the yardstick on wayward student's hands and scowl the moment we walked into the classroom. We weren't very kind to Miss Brown but then she wasn't very kind to us, either. Personally, the hardest part of having Miss Brown as an English teacher is that she nearly ruined my love of my favorite topic in school. It was the year we were to learn grammar (have I ever mentioned that as a writer I detest grammar?). I think some new way of teaching English was introduced and in all l...

Blubbering Idiot

While doing crunches this morning, I turned on the TV to keep my mind off the exercise I was about to do and the movie "Gran Torino" was playing. It was nearly 3/4 of the way done. Perfect, I thought, I can watch the end of one of my newest favorite movies. Fifteen minutes later, I'm a puddle of tears on the floor. The end of that movie dissolves me to tears every time - and I think I've seen it now about six or seven times. When Clint Eastwood's character goes about his last day - including a lame confession with the priest - locking 'Toad' in the basement, I begin to get weepy. SCENE SPOILER ALERT ! But when he is shot down and is splayed as though crucified on the cross, I become a blubbering idiot. So much softness and sacrifice in one so tough and gruff - it highlights the intensity of his sacrifice for his new family next door. I only need watch the last few minutes of "Gran Torino" to get the full emotional effect. The same can be said...

Don't cry for me ...

Song lyrics or titles run through my mind to often sum up a situation or add humor to one. Today, it's "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Only today the title is "Don't cry for me anybody"! I mean, I get it, that people feel bad that I've got breast cancer and that I've been living with MS for nearly 27 years. And I've had other issues that I've blogged about related to #metoo. I get that it seems like a lot looking in from the outside. I hear your comments and appreciate your support. But here's the thing, it doesn't feel overwhelming to me, looking out from the inside. Know what I mean? I live the life that I've been dealt and do it with the personality and faith I've been given. Which means, I could do one of the following: A. Have a miserable, pity-me attitude that would lead to being  miserable; B. Lean into my troubles and seek answers constantly either through research or angrily with God, which would lea...