So many Guardian Angels !!!

Yesterday, I realized, that  so many, many people are helping me cope with ALS.

A package arrived in the mail yesterday from a friend's cousin, who is a great seamstress.  She heard I needed skirts to wear, and she started sewing me some from beautiful, functional fabrics.  First two skirts arrived in the mail, then two more, then two more.  No money has exchanged hands, just kindness to me, whom she has met once in ten  years!  She is a guardian angel!

Tomorrow a friend and her sweetie are cleaning and opening our cottage in Maine, lots of scrubbing, bed making, and getting rid of dead ladybugs and mouse droppings.  What guardian angels!

My mom provides dinner once a week; my sister spends Mondays with me and helps me to shop for clothes and compression socks; a colleague comes to my  house for an academic meeting, another colleague gives me rides to work, without a complaint.   Terrific guardian angels, kindness without reward!

My brother drove me to Cape Cod and back (about 225 miles) for a legal meeting. Another brother from NY brought his five kids and wife up here to do autumn outdoor clean-up - raking, trimming trees, and organizing the shed.  They even brought their own lunch and dinner to share with us!

Friends of friends send me inspirational cards, neighbors stop by to chat, friends suggest lectures or concerts I might like to attend with them, and then check the accessibility for me.  One friend comes for lunch and brings a beautiful bouquet.  One guy built a whole ramp into his home, so I could visit.  People have dinner parties in their basements and haul their china and fine crystal down the stairs, so I can participate. A college roommate drove down from northern Vermont, just so we could go see spring flowers together in the Arnold Arboretum! So  many guardian angels!!!

Then there is my favorite guardian angel, my dear husband Dan. He is patient, trustworthy, and very, very caring.  He makes me smile, and laugh, and is without complaint.

Why are people so thoughtful?  How do they manage to be so kind?  It must be God at work!
I am grateful today for all these guardian angels !!!!!!!

Super Bowl and a Super Weekend !!!!!

Despite all the difficult challenges of ALS, sometimes there are days of pure happiness and gratitude.  This happened last weekend when Tim, Sam, Joe and his girlfriend, Melissa came home for Super Bowl weekend - flying in for two short days from Texas and LA.  We had quiet time together and also fun - ate at Helmand, a delicious Afghanistan restaurant in Cambridge, then went to  hear very uplifting music from Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  On Sunday we all prayed together at our church with great music, saw the Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics in the last quarter, and went home to the Super Bowl.  Melissa, who went to Tulane, knew the "Who Dat" cheer and dance, which she taught us all to do, as we cheered on the Saints to victory. 

Now everyone is gone, I miss them, but we did make some wonderful  memories of family and good times that will be in my heart each day until I see our sons again, hopefully in March!

The Flying Trapeze - oh geez!!!!

Over the holidays, I was "fortunate" enough to receive a Hoyer lift, based on the recommendation of my physical therapist, that my  ability to transfer was declining and my legs were weakening!  This is not fun!!!

I have never liked roller coasters, nor swinging high in the air!!  This is terrifying!!  Dan, who loves all things with flight, has been in the sling a few times, and likes swinging around in it!  Dan is still being trained, but we all know that any day this will be my means of transfer.  It is time consuming to get me situated in it, all clipped in safely, and then move the lift from bedroom into bathroom.  I hope my transfer legs hold out a little longer!