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 !!!!!!!

Joe proposes to Melissa and she says yes!!!

On Friday evening, May 14, Joe suggested to Melissa that they take a walk to a park, near where they live in Austin, Texas.  Earlier in the day, big brother Sam, had helped Joe pick up the custom-made diamond ring from the local silversmith, clean the park bench where the proposal would take place, and keep park goers from sitting on the bench before the appointed proposal time.  Joe gave Melissa a glass bottle of Coke and two lollipops, symbols of their first date when they were in the Peace Corps in Panama together.  She said yes to the proposal, and Joe brought out of his backpack some wine he had brought back from Argentina last year, plus two engraved wine glasses. 

  We are thrilled with the news of their wedding, currently planned for Spring 2011!  May their love continue to grow and shine on us all!!

The Secret of Skirts!!!!

"What's up with the skirts?"

"Why are you always wearing skirts?"

Some of my friends have asked me this question and some of you who see me frequently are probably wondering also.  Today the secret is revealed!

Three months ago, my wonderful British physical therapist, Sue, started advocating I wear skirts.  I thought it was a crazy idea from England, I love wearing pants!!!  But ALS changes many things, and she persuaded me that it was easier to use the Hoyer lift and toilet when I could just lift up or remove the skirt.  Then she taught me to use a female urinal, which has added new independence to my life!!  I do not have enough leg strength and arm strength to wiggle out of pants to use the portable urinal.  But I can lift  up my skirt!!!!!
                                             Maybe this is more info than you wanted, but now you know the secret!

Quick Thinking at the Mall!

I went to meet my friend, Alicia, at John Harvard's Brew Pub for lunch last Friday.  I drove the fifteen minutes from my house to meet her.  I had no problem parking in an accessible parking space with diagonal stripes to the right of my van.  This space allows the necessary room for the side ramp to come down and for me to roll out.  The picture to the left shows the inside of my wheelchair van.  There is a lock-in system for my Permobile wheelchair, so I just roll in, lock in, and drive using hand controls.  We had a great time, lots of nice talks about our kids and our families.  After lunch, Alicia suggested walking me to the van; I said it was not necessary, but she insisted. 

When we got to the van, some one  had parked next to my van on the diagonal stripes!!! Ohhhhhhhh no!!!
We could get the ramp down but there was no room for the wheelchair. Alicia said she would back-up the car a few feet, looked in, saw there was no seat for the driver, and then she said, "Ohhhhhhhh no!!"
We tried to problem solve and thought maybe a store or the restaurant  would led us a chair for Alicia to sit on, so she could drive the van. But she is smart and fast-thinking.  She grabbed a shopping cart, pushed it up the ramp, turned it on its side, sat on it, and backed the van up the necessary four feet, so then I could get in, after she removed the shopping cart.

What did I learn?
1.  Do not panic, we can find solutions.
2.  Shopping carts have many functions and can be used as chairs, when turned sideways.
3.  It is good to have clever friends!
4. Keep a folding chair in the back of the van for these future problems.
5.  Remind people not to park on the stripes  next to a side entry van!