A Year in the Life

Terri

Another year gone. Another year without a blog post. It’s not that I’ve had nothing to write about; on the contrary, I have so much I might break this up into three or four posts. And I’ll jump around the timeline, so if you’re OCD and can’t bear the thought of that, you should stop reading now!

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When we last saw our intrepid crusader, she was lamenting the inability to travel back in time to re-live her childhood beach trips.

I celebrated my 67^th birthday last week, though “celebrated” is a bit too grand for what really occurred. I “acknowledged” it or “gave it a nod.” What I did celebrate, quietly but joyfully, was being cancer-free for 16 years. (For those who are new to this blog, I discuss that part of my journey thoroughly in the first few posts.) Though cancer treatments have left me with some disability, I feel extremely blessed to have survived with most of the essential me intact.

Others in my circles have not been so fortunate. This year I’ve lost several friends to this fucking disease, and several more have been newly diagnosed. I’m angrier than ever now that environmental protections are being stripped by this insane administration when so clearly our high rate of cancer and auto-immune diseases results from the toxic mess we’ve made of our air and food and water.

“Wow,” you say, “it only took her two paragraphs to get into a T.R. (Trump rant)!” This year has been one of a lot of anger, disbelief, despair, and desperation, so I’m never very far away from a T.R. I am getting lots of fine muscle exercise: for my neck by vigorously shaking my head constantly; for my facial muscles from dropping my jaw and gritting my teeth (I haven’t done very well with holding my tongue); face-palming is good for circulation and eye-rolling for eyesight.

One of the more active roles I played this year was to coordinate mobility assistance for people with disabilities to participate in the Women’s March in January. I was able to procure some wheelchairs for people who wanted to march but weren’t able to walk the route (thanks to Kara Ford and to the MS Society). The event was difficult to manage and not everyone had their needs met, but those who did expressed so much gratitude that accessibility was considered and attempted. We might have been more successful if it hadn’t rained bucketloads and if we’d had smaller crowds – though I’m not complaining that around 100,000 people showed up to express their disapproval of this mockery of a president and to affirm the power of women!

And speaking of politics and the stripping of regulations, please pay attention to this bill before Congress and urge your Congress critters to vote ‘no’ on it.   ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (HR620)

“A new piece of federal legislation would delay consumers’ ability to hold businesses legally accountable for failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — a move that some critics say could allow companies to never comply with the ADA in the first place.”

Let’s not make it even more difficult for wheelchair users and other disabled folks to access businesses.

SE Salmon east of SE 37th

And, speaking of that! I’ve been on a quest to document areas in my neighborhood that are difficult – even dangerous – for wheelchairs and scooters (and strollers) to drive over because of severe bumps – usually caused by tree roots or degraded sidewalks – or the lack of curb cuts. I’m surprised how many there are in this progressive neighborhood – but it’s also an old neighborhood so I suppose that contributes to the problem. If I come to an intersection without curb cuts, sometimes I have to go an extra block to find a safe place to cross, or risk driving in the street. I’ve been traveling with my camera and when I encounter an obstacle, I photograph it and jot down the address or intersection. I’ll be sending my first batch to the city this week. I realize that fixing them is a budgetary concern, but so is paying out a whopping lawsuit if someone injures themselves on a poorly maintained sidewalk.

Here’s an update on my love/hate relationship with my power wheelchair. I love that it saves me so much pain and allows me to go places I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I love that it’s so maneuverable (turns on a dime!), it’s much easier to get on the bus and turn around. However, until we buy a van with a ramp, I can’t take the chair in the car. I hate that it’s so big and bulky; I still run into things, still catch things under the wheels and drag them around (like the bag that held my iPad that did not survive getting run over). I hate that all our walls and cupboards and doors have gouges from the chair scraping them.

And this: 

Oops.

(No humans or animals were injured in the making of this blog post. Kitchen utensils did not fare as well.)

Kwan Yin in the snow.

I had a taste of being completely housebound last winter when we had snow and ice on the ground for ten days. I couldn’t even safely go out on the porch for many days, and scooting anywhere was out of the question. It was a bit crazy-making. We still had toddlers coming four days a week, so I didn’t even have free reign of the house during the day.

I have much more to catch up on in the world of access, but you need a break and I need a nap. Next post, I’ll tell you about my writing retreats and project, a couple of wonderful trips we took (Seattle and Manzanita), a big remodel project in the cottage, and some new babies! And what about music you ask? Stay tuned. (See what I did there??)