The Glass is Half-Full

I'm fairly new to this four-wheeling life. I try to maintain mental balance by not venturing out too much on my own in unknown situations. (That was a way of saying, I don't take too many chances or I'd get frustrated!) But I threw caution to the wind a couple times this past weekend on Mackinac Island - and only a couple times did that pungent Mackinac Island wind (you know what I'm talking about those of you that have been there - a strange mixture of horse dung, fudge, popcorn and lake breezes) blow me over. First, the Island overall is not wheelchair 'friendly'. It's hilly off main street and if you're in a manual wheelchair (especially a lesser one like mine) going uphill is a challenge best overcome by going backwards if alone or by a really strong pusher (thank you John!). And if you're alone and going backwards in a crowd (and isn't there always a crowd in downtown Mackinac), you're likely to get plenty of; stares, offers for ...

I'm numb. Not from my MS, this time, but from the events of the past week. Emotionally numb. And this glass-is-half-full woman is struggling to even see a drop of water. So, this morning I've decided to sit down and write - in the hope of finding some water to fill my glass. Bear with me ... For Mother's Day in the year 2000, I was in D.C. for the Million Mom March. I spent the day away from John and the three little Piggins because the idea of two teen boys armed with legally purchased firearms that killed 12 and injured 21 in Columbine Colorado and terrorized a nation and called me to do something. The following was pulled from Wikipedia (I can't believe I'm citing Wikipedia!): "In the months prior to the attacks, Harris and Klebold acquired two  9 mm  firearms and two  12-gauge  shotguns. Their friend Robyn Anderson bought a rifle and the two shotguns at the Tanner Gun Show in December 1998. [28]  Through Philip Duran, [29]  another friend,...

We have a dog treat jar that was given to us 12 years ago by my sister Kerri. When you open it it plays a part of one of two songs, "Who Let the Dogs Out" or "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog". It doesn't play them anymore - I think the batteries of run out and I'm not inclined to replace them. Wonder why? Anyway, the song Hound Dog was on mind last night when Wally, for the first time ever, caught a rabbit.  He ain't no friend of mine. He said he was high class. Well, that was just a lie. The back story is that we got home after a night of theatre and friends in Grand Rapids. (Saw Phantom of the Opera - fabulous staging/set/choreography. Memories of Delaney as Christine!) After six hours in his kennel, we knew Wally would be ready to be set free. And he was - much to the chagrin of the rabbits in the backyard who didn't see him coming. He grabbed at some animal, it yelped and Wally dropped it. He looked at me on the deck, seemingly...

Pardon me while I ramble ... Being a peri-menopausal woman (I lost about half of the readers with that statement!) and one with MS, I have memory issues. So when I saw the commercials for Prevagen, a supplement touted to improve memory, I was motivated to give it a try. Problem was, every time I went to Meijer or Walgreens or Rite Aid, I'd forget to buy it. Or I'd forget to put it on my grocery list, or forget my grocery list or ... you get the picture!  You can't make this stuff up as my friend Patti would say.   Well, the stars aligned and not only did I put it on the list but I also remembered the list and a week ago my Prevagen experiment began. I'll let you know how it goes, if I remember to update you AND if I remember to take it daily!  Its main ingredient is some sea creature or jelly fish, so I'm concerned that if its as effective as the commercials claim that poor sea creature will become extinct because there are a lot of peri-menopausal w...

                          It's time. Peter Pan had to grow up.  For nearly 18 months of his life, Matthew dressed in this costume. In this picture it's new, just out of the box. He picked the costume out of a catalog and when it arrived, two weeks prior to Halloween, he asked daily if today was the day he could finally wear his Peter Pan costume. He didn't like the hat and only wore it on Halloween, but the rest of the costume he wore daily! You read that correctly - DAILY. He wore it to Meijer (for those of you unfamiliar with Meijer, it's a cleaner, friendlier, more 'upscale' version of WalMart), to church, to play dates and preschool ... Heck, he was three and adorable and it worked for him!  (Yes you read that correctly, he even wore it to church on one or two occasions when it seemed arguing with a three year old about not wearing a costume to church was not a battle worth waging. He once mentioned th...

About half-way through yesterday's journey to Michael's commencement from Wayne State Law, the song "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" was on shuffle play in my head. Between silent prayers asking for God's provision to get us to the Detroit Opera House by 4, this little R&B ditty kept me focused. And here's why. First and foremost, there was nothing more important to our clan. Matthew drove up from DePauw to Saugatuck so we could leave by noon. It was our mission to watch our son walk and to be there to help him celebrate. We were going 75 on I96, on schedule and about half-way to Detroit, when John got a call from the Subaru dealership where he'd purchased his new Outback about a month ago. Sitting in the back, listening to the one-sided conversation I knew there was some sort of crisis. My initial thought was it was work-related. Snippets included; "I didn't realize it was urgent", "I'm on my way to my son's graduat...

It doesn't look like much - especially from this distance - but that mini van behind the tow truck was our world for many years.  Our family traveled nearly 180,000 miles and tallied up even more memories within the walls/windows of that Ford Windstar. It took us to Washington D.C., Florida, on countless trips to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and St. Louis. And all around this beautiful state of Michigan. It was the vehicle of choice when taking the three not-so-little Piggins on college visits and then hauling their worldly goods to the college they chose from those visits. It was easy to distinguish from every other white mini-van because there were bumper stickers from those colleges and also a couple from their high schools! It took the three not-so-little Piggins to golf matches, baseball and football games, auditions and rehearsals. It has held the golf team and members of the band, honors choir, quiz bowl, youth group and countless other configurations of groups. And ...