Broken Lives Matter

Hello Lovelies! Mornings (although almost afternoon at this point) allow for optimism. The rest of the day hasn't intruded on my sense of fulfillment and well-being yet, so I'm feeling pretty good about things right now, though that could change. It frequently DOES, once the world has had a chance to get its hooks in you. But after 2 weeks in my apartment, only leaving to pick up packages (or deliveries from wonderful friends) right outside the door--I feel like I've gotten this Lockdown thing--on lock! I have a meal delivery service that has taken an enormous part of the grocery burden off the usual service I use. And I've been freezing a lot of those meals for the "lean months"--when I think there's a chance that all of us might have to really dig into our stores for food. We don't know WHAT'S gonna happen, do we? So I've decided I'd rather be prepared than not, even if things never get that dire. Not to mention, if this crisis h...

So Okay, a LOT has happened since my last entry, which anybody living in the United States with internet access certainly already knows! I mean...since Thursday night two weeks ago we've all been more or less confined to our homes. Those of us with a fear of death that is. To my amazement there seem to be a lot of others out there completely unconcerned about the current state affairs, probably walking around the city marveling at how clean and empty the streets are. For my part, I have done my utmost to stay on top of the developing situation with the Coronavirus, while at the same time trying NOT to lose my mind and despair. Most of last week I was walking around my apartment in a daze, absolutely dumb-founded by the way things seemed to have change--feeling fragile as I have most of this horrible year so far. I also did a fair amount of sleeping in and feeling sorry for myself, surfing the Net and trying to fill a void in my life that I had no idea how to fill, since I'd...

Found this while I was trolling online:) Thought it might be useful; even if you already know everything, a refresher couldn't hurt--and some of it's surprising, like "get another caregiver in case your care giver gets sick"--that was a new one on me! https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MIDHHS/2020/03/13/file_attachments/1401015/Accessible%20-%20Quick%20Sheet%20for%20Older%20Adults%203-13-2020.pdf

I love this idea. I would love it more if it also included those of us who are slow...but not yet elderly:)

Well now I get it, Why so many people look at me strangely when I go out into the world and try to live like a normal person. I'm one of the vulnerable. One of the "contagious"--I'm not contagious--but they THINK I am because of WHO I am. And there are delivery services for everything, so how DARE I assume I have a right to be out among the "normal" people? Normal. I haven't been fighting people for toilet paper. I haven't been buying every canned good on every shelf in every store for a week. I'm home safe making what I have last, thank you, avoiding passing anything I MAY have onto even MORE vulnerable people--as they should be. I have common sense and dignity, which quite a few of those who used to look at me weird--clearly do not. And I'm a pretty good writer, if I do say so myself, which some of my friends would agree with. This forced isolation has allowed me to explore that possibility even more. And to watch a lot of old "Jeo...

In a world gone mad with rugged individualism and frighteningly Darwinian thoughts on survival during this CO-VID thing, I do understand the panic. But I also understand that media and online sources can manipulate facts, figures, and information to make anyone think just about anything those sources want--so I take everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. With that in mind, I encourage you all to be mavericks like me and think for yourselves. Don't roar off to the grocery or the hardware or the TOY store with malicious intent and step on hands to stock up on hand sanitizer. Think. Be kind. Be considerate.

It doesn't seem to be in the forefront of a lot of Ablist minds the REAL problem with staying away from work or crowds if you have CO-VID symptoms. YOU yourself may well be able to survive an infection. But here's the rub, folks; the elderly, infirm, or infantile (babies) nay NOT be able to survive it. For their sake; stay hone, everybody. Stay home for the love of God. For the love of Humanity! For the record; I would stay away from my usual public haunts if I contracted the virus, though it would hurt me deeply! What would hurt more is knowing I spread the virus they couldn't fight off.

Well Lovelies, it's been so busy! This weekend when I would normally have been thinking about writing another blog post, I was SCAMMED! I never, ever would have believed I'd be scammed. I never, ever would have believed I'd fall for such a stupid thing as somebody posing as someone I trusted. Alas, anyone can be a victim:( And indeed, I found out that lately, a LOT of people I know have fallen prey. The common link has been single income or Social Security. This encouraged me to alert my readers that the jackals are on the prowl!! They're looking for the most vulnerable among us. They're preying on our own desires. And they'll get you if they want. They got me. Be vigilant, be careful, and keep your heads up. Goodnight Lovelies! The whole weekend was physically painful, and now the gradual release of the anxiety coil is making me SO tired. Who says there has to be a "bedtime"?

This week has flown by, hasn't it? I can't even tell you what my Monday was like:( I've forgotten it completely in my prematurely senior brain! But a couple VERY interesting things have happened in the Disabled Community this week that I think everyone should be made aware of if they're not already. 1) The Government has begun quietly chipping away at Benefits for the Disabled--meaning SSI. I would love to say this is exaggerated, but I don't think it is. Listening to the kids on the Autism spectrum that I volunteer with, restrictions are getting much tighter, and it's becoming much more difficult to keep what you already have. I believe this actually comes from good intentions; the Government is trying to prevent people from taking advantage of the incredibly generous system Americans have for people with disabilities--which is very noble. But in the process, of course, those who qualify for benefits and/or subsidies out of genuine need are being burned. Li...

Good Evening, Lovelies! Weather predictions for this weekend are dire indeed. As much as poor New South Wales, Australia is burning--that's how much WE will be encased in ice this weekend. Isn't nature astounding? So I've made plans to exclude myself from EVERY possible equation this weekend. No braving the sidewalks around home to visit my favorite haunts, no riding the bus through rainstorms or ice squalls in hopes of finding the sidewalks in the suburbs nicely salted. Nope. I'll be home sweet home! Enjoying the quiet of a world under glass--so to speak--and waiting it out until the pedestrian walkways are as carefully de-iced as the roadways! I have high hopes that the forecasts were all exaggerated out of an abundance of caution so people would opt to stay home, but you never can tell. People get so used to ice and snow and the freezing cold that they brave it--and suffer the consequences--no matter what. When I think about it, I can't help but wonder if t...

I was flustered, just trying to get to a restroom in time. Ran into the public library (my old standby) and saw a woman walking into the big stall with no visible physical challenge or mobility aid. I called out and asked her, "would you mind? You don't need that." Which I should have finished with "--for your mobility aid" or "for your wheelchair" or whatever. But like I said, I was flustered and in a hurry. Maybe I SHOULD have just sucked it up and left my walker outside the stalls. I've done that before so...it's not like I'm not used to it. BUT that's exactly it; I've done it before; I didn't WANT to do it again. She came back with, "don't tell me I don't need it!" I imagine she isn't used to being told what she can or cannot do. She needs to sign the register:) If you're disabled in this country EVERYONE tells you want you can't do. The additional complication of the Disabled putting each ot...

Does this "geek you out" as much as it did me?!!!! The company that was (in another name) popular when I was a kid has made DISABILITY popular!!! Oh Lovelies, THIS is a big deal:)

Just a quick check-in, Lovelies! I had a wonderful Christmas, and truly hope all of you did too. Travel was a bit of a bear, of course, but you know how THAT goes:( At least I got a full refund on my train ticket when a cancelled the ride home in favor of a ride! Every time I complete a car trip I feel like the older great-aunt Bethany in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"--"Oh that was fun; I love riding in cars!" And now I have a wonderful weekend to just calm down and recover. Aren't you delighted? I know I am. But wasn't it amazingly warm and beautiful all week?! Almost nobody was wearing a coat. People were out raking leaves! And everyone was SO happy and relieved not to be dealing with ice and snow for a change. Freakin' Midwest. The weather can really make it difficult to live here:( But then out of nowhere, we're given the gift of a Hawaiian Christmas! Mele-kalikimaka, dear readers:) From the looks of the forecast we're in ...

Wow! So it's been a week since I posted! I guess sometimes my Facebook posts feel like I've shared enough of myself, leaving very little room for blog sharing:( So what can I say? Christmas is here! Well just about. I'm bound for home in a couple of days--just two! I still haven't packed! But I've been writing a list of things I don't want to forget to bring, for a week or two now. As of this moment I'm looking forward to the morning; it's mine and my fiance's "Christmas" from the year we were together. He loved the solstice, and I was too in love with him to mind that it wasn't "THE DAY." I think that's what love is all about; changing your routine and the other person changing theirs so the two halves can fit together:) Anyway, the best part of it for me, at the time, was that it was like I was a kid at Christmas again, all wide-eyed and excited:) I had that wonderful, exceedingly rare feeling like ANYTHING could hap...

Hello Lovelies! Just wanted to share an insight I've had into myself. I continually surprise myself with my clarity of thought. And not because things even SOUND all that good in my head. Or even coherent! Indeed, quite often the thoughts in my head are the opposite of coherent, which i would say is "adherent," but to use that word in reference to thoughts seems a bit more insane than I WANT to sound at the moment:) Here me out: sometimes I write my thoughts down--advice I've given, insights I've had into a situation, and they SOUND completely fragmented and disjointed in my head. I feel like I'm just babbling ideas into the air. Then, when I go back and look at them with fresh eyes and a little objectivity, they're magically crystalline and clear. Sometimes even poetic. And it WASN'T intentional! What do you suppose that means? I think we can rule out the possibility I should become a speaker or a member of the press. But what OTHER direction shoul...

Good Morning!! We've had steady snow all morning--it was even pretty heavy there for a while; but of course in this urban jungle, very little is sticking. It's still very pretty though, and I appreciate the non-threat to my bald walker tires! Which brings me to what I'm doing later! I finally got myself together enough to schedule a time and a ride to the medical supply place that supplies walkers to eligible patients, of which I am one! This is over a month past when I became eligible, granted, but I figured the longer I waited, the more legitimate my need would seem to the suppliers:) Chalk it up to my overthinking every single thing. And the timing could NOT be better. With this snow and possible ice, I'll need a heavier "vehicle" to navigate the sidewalks. Several of my friends have called it my chariot, which I suppose it is:) I walk behind it, LIKE a chariot. And Lord knows I'm too young for a legitimate "walker" like your grandmother h...

Hello Lovelies! Forgive my long, long absence. The holidays have descended on my life in full force! Also seasonal depression, which I found out recently is almost unique to the Midwest. Way out west (Alaska), the prolonged darkness just makes a person a little stir crazy, and out East they're very used to a daily, snowy, icy struggle. The European countries plunged in darkness are an entirely different story; the Danish are some of the happiest people in the world, for mastering the art of hygge (hoogah) living; coziness among the discomfort:) But I digress! Let me expound on the image I included in this entry. It is my very LEAST favorite patch of sidewalk downtown. Doesn't it look like the crags were DESIGNED to be there? Like whoever made the street said "let's give 'em another challenge". They put the least even, most insultingly broken piece of sidewalk right where pedestrians are BOUND to go. And at the moment it's even right before an art stu...

SO silly proud of my local physical therapy/physical recuperation center, Mary Free Bed! Just look how inclusive they are:)

Good Morning, Lovelies! I found this wonderful article I thought I'd share with you. There is SO MUCH stigma around mental disabilities--most of it stemming from misunderstanding, even in today's more "enlightened and tolerant" world. My hope is that eventually, someday, two things will happen that have the potential to change EVERYTHING. First, just on a personal level, I would like to see the world realize "physical disability" does NOT mean "mentally handicapped." I mean come on guys, yes the body and brain work in concert much of the time, but there are exceptions. Just because we have limitations or are not as strong in body as the next guy does NOT mean there's "nothing going on upstairs." We could in many ways be smarter than YOU! Remember that, for my sake. The next thing I hope society will one day get over is the idea that having a mental disability is in and of itself a bad thing, and something to hide or be ashamed of....

This is the most perfect thing ever:) And since he couldn't let go of the other guys to hold her, I'm sure this wonderful moment also made her appreciate even more what she DID have to give her--a warm embrace.