As You Like

The lawn maintenance workers below me are in rare form; weed whacking and mowing as if their lives depend on how well they cut the grass:) My slightly itchy eyes and stuffy nose protest the open window, but it is just too beautiful a day to close it out. Plus I love the breeze; it's kind of cool and reminds me of Fall. It's a nice reassurance than another season IS coming, and we won't just have this relentless heat and sunshine forever. In these so-called "Dog Days", which I don't actually think happen heliacally (when the "Dog Star" Sirius is visible in the night sky just before sunrise) until next month, it feels like it's going to be summer forever. Not unlike "in the bleak midwinter" around February, when it feels like ice and snow cover the world, and we'll never get out from under it. But for now, the weather is absolutely perfect for people with a disability to get out of the house and get things done, allergies be damned:) But there is a lot to be said for doing what you can do within the parameters of your abilities. The other day I was waiting for a bus and there was a woman in a wheelchair ALSO waiting, who had a very hard time vocalizing or even communicating her needs. She was shaking in her chair, and spoke very indistinctly in choppy sentences, yet she was all alone. There was a man waiting with us who commented "she needs to have somebody with her"...which for the first time, I had to admit was true. Most of the time I think people in wheelchairs or with other challenges have just as much right to wander as anybody else, if not more because sunlight lifts the spirit. But in this lady's case, I think it would have been better if she'd known herself and her limitations well enough to ask somebody to accompany her where ever she was going that day. It was another warm, sunny, beautiful day like this one, so far be it for me to say anybody should CONFINE themselves to the indoors. But there are considerations I think everyone has a responsibility to take; even if they face no physical challenges on a daily basis; it's just a courtesy. And it's wise. Given that it's obvious the majority of the population wouldn't know the first thing about how to help somebody with a genuine medical need, to expect help from strangers at a critical time is dangerous. With this spirit in mind, I've opted to stay home and make phone calls in service of a cause I believe in tonight. I know that if I went to the headquarters, I'd have to contend with balloons, and that all of the environmental allergens floating around my head make it cloudy and unfocused; so best not to tempt fate by going too far. Thank goodness yesterday I just happened to be right by a pharmacy, and I could get MYSELF there. The other volunteers wouldn't have had the first idea what to do, in all likelihood, if I passed out. And how could I expect them to? That would be unfair and unreasonable. So...thus concludes my "speech" about knowing yourself. I don't suggest just being a hermit forever if you can help it; that's not healthy either! But don't make yourself vulnerable. Be smart, and be safe:) Especially during the Dog Days.