Life is hard...and amazingly wonderful, so keep an open mind

Today I would like to share with you three encounters I've had in my life. All three of these experiences would  go on to repeat themselves in my life throughout my life with different people and places, but these experiences I share with you now represent the very first time I became consciously aware of the dynamics of these encounters and how they have informed my view of myself and of my place within the larger world Encounter 1 (Somewhere  in the mid-80s) An Invisible Rarity  I'm about 9 or 10 and sitting with my parents and youngest sister in a well-appointed living room. My parents are visiting friends with us in tow and the hostess enters offering refreshments. She asks my parents in turn what they would like, before turning to Chrizette, two years my junior, and asking her preference.  I patiently wait my turn, but our hostess never asks me my preference, instead, she turns back to my mom and asks: "And what will  she have?" It's my first r...

Times I felt most authentic Dancing in a wheelchair I cannot walk, but I can dance, my electric wheelchair whizzing across the floor in an ecstatic arc of wheels as a group of friends surround me, clapping and cheering. One more twirl, one more squeal of delight before I blend back into the circle of friends and cheer loudly for the dancer that follows after me. I cannot walk, but I can dance! There are many different dances and many different ways to dance. Those with the most confidence amongst us dance as if no one is watching, with no particular steps in mind as they simply follow their instincts and the flow of the music. Others are more comfortable with learning the steps. Dancing with life is no different, some people just instinctively seem to know how it is done. As for the rest of us, we learn the steps along the way. Some steps we learn from those we meet on the road of life while others are gleaned from somewhere deep inside us. What follows are five ...

Life in a wheelchair can be frustrating, very much so. When I was a young child I assumed that only life in a wheelchair is hard and frustrating and full of challenges. I naively thought that I was the only one who suffered. We always think our pain is so unique and singular don't we? It took me until well into my twenties to realize that we all suffer. Suffering, so it seems to me, is part of the human condition, the difference is merely a question of degrees. I think it was Franciscan priest Richard Rohr who said: "Suffering is what occurs whenever we are not in control." When you live in a wheelchair you are seldom, very seldom in control, others decide your day, others do for you all those things you cannot do for yourself, your life is dependant on others. Because of this those of us living this way are often fiercely territorial over the small little details we can control or shall I say those details we think we can control. Because the truth is, more of...

When I came into the world on March 21, 1975, I was deemed a miracle simply by virtue of being born alive. I'd made my arrival some two and a half months ahead of schedule, it seems my impatient streak was making itself known even then. So here I was a tiny miracle the size of a rat and the way I've often heard it told I wasn't expected to survive, but I did. I've been subverting expectations ever since, in big and small ways. Life seldom presents one with a singular thing, more often than not we get a bit of a mixed bag, don't we? If my miracle was being born alive at six and a half months in 1975, then the 'mixed bag' part of the equation was being born with Cerebral Palsy. I have CP in mid-grade which resulted in me being in a wheelchair practically since birth. Life is hard at times, from there the first half of the title for this blog. Life is hard for everyone, not just for those of us with obvious physical challenges, each one of us has our big ...