Tuesday – 5/31/2011

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and were able to enjoy some beautiful weather and family!  Hopefully you also had a chance to remember our veterans and their sacrifices made for us and this great country. Remember, their sacrifice continues long after Memorial Day is over, and we should constantly be thanking them for all they do!
I had several small adventures over the past week. It was a busy week and I’ve been pretty tired at the end of every day. Last Thursday, the folks from the service dog organization came to visit me with, Sammy, a two-year-old golden retriever. I applied for a service dog several months ago and am still hoping to be considered for one. The good news is that I can have both a monkey and dog under the same roof!  In fact, I often joke that I may slap some sunglasses on the dog and have the monkey play the harmonica while I sit on a corner in downtown Cleveland — this could be a way to raise money for my care! I hope to hear some definitive news regarding the dog over the next few months. It would be great to have a dog in the house, especially so he could bark every time my evening caretakers fall asleep (which is all the time) and don’t hear me calling for them. This would certainly be one way to remedy the situation.

Last Thursday was one of the more exciting adventures I have had in a while. Those of you who know me, know that I always find a way to create an event out of the smallest things. Holly, my friend/OT, was here to help stand me as has become the norm on Thursday evenings. It was semi-nice out so we decided to venture out for some Five Guys hamburgers. I have been talking the burgers up to Holly so we decided to finally enjoy some. We made our way over to the restaurant, about a quarter-mile away, in good fashion. We ordered our food to go and headed for home when the skies turned dark and completely opened up dropping a deluge of rain on us! I’m not talking about a little drizzle. We were caught in an all-out severe thunderstorm!  As we were crossing the street, I was laughing so hard that I kept accidentally stopping my wheelchair. Holly would keep going only to turn around and see me stuck in an intersection laughing my butt off. I was laughing so hard it was difficult to get the chair moving again. To make a long story short, we finally made it back to the apartment where I had to get changed into some dry clothes before I could enjoy my burger and ultimately get into the standing frame. It just so happened that someone was “kind” enough to capture the moment.

Just when I thought the escapades were behind me, Lindsey and I decided to head over to the pool on Saturday. I was in the mood for a swim and was looking forward to taking a dip (just kidding). We thought it would be nice to sit poolside and soak up some rays. We had to access the pool from the back of the building, but when we got back there discovered the gate was locked. As I tried to turn around on the sidewalk, I slipped off the pathway and a wheel ended up digging itself 3 inches deep into the grass. I was stuck and on the verge of tipping over!  We had to call for backup — my mother and Lori, a friend who works for the apartment complex. As it turned out, Lindsey was overcome with Spidey strength and was able to manually lift me back onto the pavement. Again, we had a camera to capture the moment.

Between the two “mishaps” I did manage to fit in some visits with some friends. Bret, a former coworker, and JJ, a high school buddy, were in town for the weekend and stopped by. It was great to catch up with them as it always is when I visit with friends from the past. Bret was kind enough to stop by again on Monday on his way back to Virginia.

The porch outside my apartment is turning into a nice little sanctuary. I have strawberries and tomatoes growing as well as several plants, one of which is a favorite of a local hummingbird. I have also realized how nonthreatening I am given that chipmunks like to run across the patio while I am sitting out on it, not even phased by me. In a way, I feel like St. Francis sitting on my porch watching all the wild animals gather around me. In any event, my back porch has become a nice little getaway to enjoy the weather. And because I have WiFi, I can still get work done while sitting outside.

There’s a lot of other stuff going on to keep me busy. I’ll discuss in more detail at a later point. Tuesday, I have another meeting for LEAP. Depending how the day goes I’m hoping to grab dinner downtown afterwards.

As always, I’d like to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support! Stand strong!

Scott