1 post tagged “take for granted”

What are five things you take for granted? 
Submitted by meowkitty.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about what I USED to take for granted…

 

1.  I used to expect my knees and legs to automatically pull me up into a standing position and to transport me around.  Now I have to half pull myself up by holding

onto the walker handles.  And if I’ve sat down in a slightly low chair (as I did at the shampoo bowl at the salon yesterday), I cannot physically get myself up out of that chair.  It took two young women to help lift me up outta that chair.  It’s times like that when I feel sooooo embarrassed and humiliated.  I know logically I shouldn’t feel that way, that my body is betraying me, but societal perception, and appearance!, are very strong elements of our culture.  It shouldn’t be that way….  If I moved to , would I be venerated for my age and wisdom?  ;-)

 

 

2.  When you pick up a plastic bottle with a twist off cap, it’s safe to assume that your hands can turn that cap & open the bottle, right?  Not for those with arthritic

hands and arms.  I keep a small wrench around to open bottles with now.  And I can no longer manage ANY kind of corkscrew, even those fancy “rabbit” kind, so I’m no longer having a glass of wine every so often.  Now my drinking has been restricted to restaurants for a holiday or birthday or somefin’.  If Josh is around HE can open the bottles for me, but I’ve just kinda lost the desire to drink.  THIS is a GOOD thing! :-D

 

 

3.  It was always so simple to get in and out of a vehicle.  Not so much now.  Because of the stiffening and reduced range of motion in my knees, I have to plant the left leg into the car, slide the foot sloooowly forward which allows me to drop * thunk * into the passenger seat, & then try to get my right leg in.  It’s all usually done in slow motion so I don’t hurt myself.   ;-)  And then of course I need a friend or cab driver to

fold up the walker & stash it in the trunk (that’s the “boot” to you Brits & Aussies, ‘eh?)

 

 

4.  We just take for granted that we can pull open the cellophane bag of chips, right?  Or you know how you slide a nail in between those zip-loc closures they have

on more and more packaging these days?  Sometimes I can get them open, but more often than not I get SO frustrated that I can’t manage this simple little thing that I finally just get the scissors out (I have a pair at my desk & another in the kitchen drawer). 

 

 

5.  And isn’t it nice when you finally settle down into bed at the end of a long day?  You scrunch the pillows around just so, find a comfy position, and drift off to sleep.  Unfortunately that doesn’t happen so easily at my house, ‘cause when I sleep on my side now my shoulders and/or arm hurts.  I’m gradually learning to sleep half on my side & half on my back.  It’s just so annoying to have to teach an “old dog” new tricks

 

 

 

FYI…. I haven’t answered the QOTD in order to whine.  I’ve answered it in the hopes that those who read it will stop and take a moment to be grateful for the healthy functioning of your bodies.  We DO take ALL of these things for granted.  We

don’t even think about it.  But remember, it is a gift and a blessing to be healthy and whole.  And it can all be taken away….sometimes gradually, and sometimes in a “paparazzi flash bulb” moment.  One minute you’re walking around, living your life, and then * flash flash * we’re blinded for a second and find we can no longer do what we could do a second before.  I’m reminded of Christopher Reeve, and the polo accident that changed his life.

 

 

In one of those blinding “flash bulb” moments, Chris’s life went from that of a robust, healthy, athletic man to a quadriplegic with a spinal cord injury.  An excerpt from his website: 

May 27, 1995 – Events that occur in a fraction of a second often seem to those who experience them as if they unfold in slow-motion. It was in just such a flashing moment that a robust and athletic Christopher Reeve was paralyzed from a spinal cord injury so severe, that his first lucid thought was that it might be better for everyone if he were to die.

"When Dana whispered those life-saving words to me, ‘You’re still you. And I love you,’ it meant more to me than just a personal declaration of faith and commitment. In a sense it was an affirmation that marriage and family stood at the center of everything, and if both were intact, so was your universe."

With those words, Christopher chose to live. After months of grueling rehabilitation and therapy, Christopher returned home to find himself surrounded by a life so familiar yet completely new.

What an awesome love and promise that Dana Reeve gave to her husband that day!  The will to LIVE!  Though my challenges are FAR less debilitating than what Chris went through, I can relate.  I’ve considered whether it would be “better for everyone” if I weren’t around anymore.  It would take a HUGE burden off of my son’s shoulders, and my sister’s too, to a much lesser extent.  But through the dogged determination and love of both of those people, as well as the encouragement and “reality checks” I get from friends old and new, I persevere.  You, my Vox friends, have really made a difference in so many ways.  And I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for “pushing” me along on my journey. ;-)

 

I’m even going to meet one of you NEXT WEEKEND!  Here in Seattle!  And then a bunch more over Labor Day!  I’m easy to pick out of a crowd:  I’ll be the one with the walker or wheelchair and probably a goofy expression on my face.  Hey… you have to find a lot of humor when life deals you a bad hand.  Through your posts, I find humor, empathy, angst, sorrow….the gamut of human emotions.  But the common denominator is that you’re all REAL.  Or at least you seem very real to me, and I thank you for that! *HUGS*  [Please forgive some of the wierd spacing & formatting.  Sometimes when I put pics into my posts it goes ALL wonky and I'm screwing around with it WAY too long, so...]

Some of the peeps I'll meet over Labor Day!  From left:  Aubrey, Lauowolf, Lurkertype, Sparky & Meg

Hey Lauowolf....send me a REAL pic so I'll know whose car it's safe to get into when I get there! ;-)