By George…
When I first met him, I didn’t know what to expect. I’d had numerous counselors before. Some were good. Most were average. So when I went to the mental health center that day to meet him for the first time, I didn’t think much would come of it. For the first few...
If I Look For It
Somehow I just knew that the news just would not be good. As I sat in that little room waiting for my doctor to come in, the sinking feeling in my stomach only got stronger. He showed me the x-ray. There is a stone taking up residence in my right kidney that is about...
A Little Confidence
I guess it was something of a crisis of confidence. The night before I was in panic mode because the grocery store had sold out of the size of bottles of water that I had planned on serving. When I heard that, I was convinced it was a bad omen and that it meant that...
God Bless Both of Them!
It’s been a few years ago now that I made the change. I stepped out of my comfort zone and did something different. It seemed pretty darn radical at the time. Not so much anymore, although there are definitely still some periods of adjustment. For decades prior to...
It’s Not About the Tablecloths
Did I order enough cookies? Are the bottles of water I bought big enough? Can we arrange the books on a table far away from the food so disaster doesn’t strike if something gets spilled? Are the tablecloths too dark? Did I get the right size napkins? Do I have enough...
Just Be Aware
Today is the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week, and I guess the purpose of events like this is not to “celebrate” mental illness as such, but rather, as the name implies, to simply raise awareness about the subject. I first received the diagnosis of my mental...
Almost Perfect
It gets in my way sometimes, the fact that I am a perfectionist. And I don’t say that lightly like it is an icebreaker to tell strangers at parties. I have been known to fold a piece of paper repeatedly so I could get the crease right. When I take my service dog for a...
Buy the Book
As most people know, I was born with cerebral palsy, which means that I have never known any different than living my life accompanied by disability. There were many surgeries when I was young. I was in plaster body casts for months at a time. Not fun during...
My Secret Weapon
I first heard of the concept from my mom, who was raised in Ireland as a young girl. She told me that when people there were hiring a new housekeeper to clean their home, one of the things they would do was put a broom in the doorway. It was kind of a test. If a...
A Person First
I first heard about person first language when I was in graduate school. The concept was familiar to me long before that. The idea that it was much more respectful to refer to "the woman who was blind" rather than "the blind woman" just made sense in my mind....