I’ve never let the pain get in my way. Or the wheels. (Sometimes I feel like a spider, a girl with 2 arms, 2 legs, and 4 wheels equals 8 limbs. Have you seen Monsters Inc? I ‘roll’ by my self like freakin’ Mr. Waternoose.) I do amazing things, and they’re almost bright enough to hide the pain of living, even from me.
Archive of ‘wheelchair’ category
Aegri Somnia Vana*

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to the land beyond the sea |
Always,
the fragrance of the earthen potpourri
walking down the hint of a path,
erased by impatient feet,
to the sea.
The forest marched down
to the waters edge
clung to slivers in the severe wrinkled face of the cliff, and
on islands the tide shaped;
Yet couldn’t,
wouldn’t press,
even a gnarled toe
into the rocky sand-shore,
to feel a shy wave
glide forward,
reach around toes to heals, and
tug you in closer to play.
How lonely!-
to only drink
the windward rains;
only feel briny breezes run wild fingers
through needle-tresses,
only smell the suns reflection, scattered from every
glistening pebble
bull kelp, fallen feather;
To watch, and wait, at the precipice of a wonder;
To be rooted to this rugged, cumbersome land
and never to touch, taste,
one teardrop
of the Pacific’s compassion.
May your tears always find a path home to the sea. ~
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Olympic Mountains |
Written on November 5th, 2012
*Translation: A sick man’s empty dreams, a line of Horace’s
This chair is too small…this chair is too big…this one’s just right!

Heat wave. Finally. Victoria only gets a few days of real, glorious, hotness a few days a year, so we cold-blooded people have to soak up as much of it as we can. Its kind of a sticky day, but for once there is no hint of a cloud in the sky, and it feels like if you laid on your back and looked up for long enough, you could see clear out of atmosphere, past the galaxy, and into some far-off distant world.
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Finally…the moment of truth. |
It was warm enough today for me to wear my recently finished skirt that I made in my art textiles course, with the help of Lisa, my EA. I designed the scene on the bottom, which reminds me of a place in East Sooke that I love very much. It is surprisingly comfortable, sewn out of a light linen fabric, loosely fitting enough that I could walk, but not so much that it’s unflattering. The zipper is lightly off-center at the back, but unless I had told you that, I doubt you would have noticed. I’ve very proud of it. My first skirt!
I had a wheelchair fitting today. I’m getting a new wheelchair, which I am only too excited about. The wheelchair(s) I currently use are the kind someone would use for a few months with a broken leg. 2 years is really too long to be using a wheelchair with no support that doesn’t really fit me right. I will be so wonderfully comfortable to sit in something cushy. The wheelchair has so much padding it seems ridiculous…I’ll never want to get up (just kidding, tho). The bottom part of the one I chose feels strangely like brains…its a gel cushion. I am hoping to have part of the feel pedals in a toxic green color, which from the picture in the magazine looks like a lime green. I’m very excited about this. I am exhausted from standing up a bunch to squish into a bunch of different combination’s of backs and seats. It should be here in 2 weeks or so…can’t wait to go joy-riding with it…maybe a little racing too haaa.
Consider This Lesson Learned
I have learned so much from being in a wheel chair. This temporary perspective has changed my view of life, and I hope that you can learn these lessons other ways.
These are the lessons I learned.
I learned that sometimes the best way to make changes, in this instance, is to sit down to take a stand; that the only way to get where you need to be is to understand- where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going- and that knowing these things allows you to make the changes.
I’ve learned that the people who are best equipped to make changes, are the ones who have experienced the problem.
I’ve learned that if people must look down on you, your smile and charisma must raise you up to their eye level.
I’ve learned that if you cannot use your legs, your words must carry you further, and carry more weight than ever.
I have learned that if you cannot use your arms, your heart must reach further to touch others and hand yourself things.
I’ve learned that if you cannot trust your mind, that you must trust others implicitly, and that learning to trust others, is the surest sign you trust yourself.
I’ve learned that if you must get places, if you must do something or say something or think something, that if it is worth this great effort, than you might as well go full way.
I’ve learned that a broken body, a broken heart, a broken soul, and a broken mind are much more different than I thought, and you can survive with just one piece of your puzzle and spend the rest of your time repairing the others.
I’ve learned that if you had the energy to get sick, you must find within yourself the energy to get better.
Lessons learned.
Lessons learned.