Broken Lives Matter

It's ENTIRELY too cold! Not only is the Polar Vortex trouncing the state of Michigan right now (with special attention to the west central part), strong winds are blowing constantly-falling snow and the mounds of it that have already fallen ALL OVER:( Guess where I've been all week?! Yep, that's right. Right here watching the weather from inside the comfort of my own messy apartment. To add to the fun, last night the governor came on social media to appeal to the public to keep their heat at 65 degrees when they are home. Well, unfortunately I'm home pretty much all the time since it's not worth venturing two feet out of the door! But I'm getting used to the restrictions, which I begrudgingly followed. Initially, I will admit, I had no intention of complying with the governor's demands. But I got to thinking about it, and realized that if other home-bounders with disabilities suffer in the future--I do not want it to be MY fault:) So I'll happily make...

Happy Sunday, Lovelies! It was momentarily sunny and calm out; I think it's supposed to snow buckets tonight. I found I simply could not spend another Sunday holed up in my apartment (even if that's a very cozy option), and arranged for a ride on Thursday. I didn't ask for the same person to drive me home, assuring them I'd find some one else to do me that honor:) Thankfully, because of the community within my church and the amount of friends I've made within it, it was indeed not a problem to find a ride home after the service, though by the time I left, almost everyone else had gone! That's just the good fortune I've found in a small, tight-knit group of very kind-hearted people, because I went outside my comfort zone after Michael died. They say that life begins outside your comfort zone, AND they say that life begins with Jesus, so I guess I'm two for two. But this got me thinking about those in another community to which I didn't choose to b...

So many things on my mind tonight. Particularly to do with the Disabled who are "newly" so, and have to deal with end-of-life concerns on top of what they deal with on a daily basis! Being disabled is daunting enough I imagine, if you've never had any previous concerns about getting from A to B, or have understandably taken your freedom of movement for granted. Having gone to physical therapy recently and decided on my own to cut the number of visits by a fourth, and as one of the founding members or an active participant in several groups who deal with disabilities seen and unseen at various ages, I've come to some conclusions. The first of which is that I do not (and most likely will not) be one of those people "surprised" by getting older. I'm going to do like my grandmother does, and take everything in stride as it comes, and never make a big deal about anything, but not ever ignore anything new, either. Or at least do my best not to let anything s...

Hello! My day started with more of a jolt than I would have liked today, because I effortlessly slept through my blaring phone alarm (or I turned it off without waking up), and had to leap (slowly, with reluctance) out of bed to make myself semi-presentable for an art event happening in almost no time at all! Somehow, I made it, and I looked impressively presentable:) I met the incoming curator/director, got to look at several mind-expanding art exhibits centered around a central, yet divisive theme in our culture, and reflect once again on how that theme sounds more and more familiar to my own experience as a disabled person in America today. We're all marginalized too, though opinions still differ on exactly who receives the worst of it--and honestly I can't really maintain the position that mine suffers more. Yes, there are inconveniences, but in fairness to them, a lot of the disabled community used to just stay shut up indoors, rather than face those inconveniences and...

Hello! Today's big story is of course the sun:) It's a big story because we haven't seen it around here in a long time, and all of a sudden yesterday, it showed up! As a friend in church reminded me, she takes comfort in the reassurance that "the sun is always shining", repeated to herself. And that is wonderful and no less true than the fact that it's shining today! But it's so hard to remember that the sun is really out there, when you're enduring day after day of grayness, often accompanied by rain. I know if I lived in Sweden or even Alaska I'd have to get used to blackness after just a few hours of sun every day this time of year. But nevertheless, I lament the heavy mantle of the Midwesterners, which seems TOO heavy sometimes, with so many people suffering from the very real condition of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD...isn't that just sad to say?). Myself I've been indoors doing very little, MANY days this season. If not bec...

Happy New Year, Lovely Readers! It's been shamefully long since I posted, but SO much has been going on lately! Honestly, my schedule is getting away from me, and one of my first purchases of the New Year will be a day planner. Yes, these days even Google has a calendar for your whole agenda, and I could just rely on that to keep me straight. But just because I write something down in my Google calendar doesn't mean I'm going to check said calendar every day! I could miss something, as I did last night, that I had been hoping to attend. I guess that's just another thing I'll have to forgive myself for; I'm not perfect, in fact I make a lot of mistakes, but that's just the way I am. After so many years of my life, I've decided "screwing up" is just something I do, and nothing to get upset over. Which is what I wish I could tell everyone with a disability. So many of us hold ourselves to an irrational standard, thinking we have to meet a cer...