Month: July 2019

Today is day four without power. It’s been just so awful trying to find a hotel that is handicapped accessible, because they really aren’t even when they claim to be. It really frustrates me that this is not an easy thing to find in 2019. I am tired of NOT being in my house. This really stinks! Maybe it’s just because I am so tired of being displeased that I feel like I’m not included in society right about now…

Still no power at my house. I currently am looking for the next venue on our tour of hotels. When is says accessible. Sometimes, (most of the time) not so much… it’s all a bit frustrating! I will post an update later or tomorrow because my phone needs to charge.

So, I lost power last evening. Sean was at work and my Mom was at a graduation party. I was in the middle of watching Labyrinth for the third time in three days. The TV went out and it was a brown out and then a couple minutes later, the air went out so I called my Mom. She was at my house within a half hour.

She got me ready to leave my house and packed an overnight bag for me and for Sean. I was about 9 o’clock when we started calling hotels to get a room. We called to a total of 15 hotels in order to get a room that were all completely booked! The room we ended up getting last night was in Troy and was NOT handicapped accessible.

After so many phone calls and sitting in the car for so long, we took the room. We waited for Sean at his work parking lot which was next to what used to be Lonestar (Where I worked The summer after high school). We ended up checking in a little bit after 1 AM. Because it was so late and we were so far from home, my Mom stayed over with us. Sean told me once that even if a place was NOT handicapped accessible, my Mom and he would get me there if I wanted!

Well, I wanted to do it yesterday because I needed the air conditioning. It was necessary for me to survive the night with this heat! They both came through with shining colors!

At 2 o’clock in the morning, my Mom booked a room at a different hotel, one by my house. She used my card. So much for savings! The receptionist recommended that we book it then. She told us the rooms were going fast so here I sit, in a NOT accessible room again.

We checked in and all three of us fell asleep because we were so tired from last night! Because we were so far from home, the other patrons at the hotel did not look like they were displaced because of power outages but we sure did! The bacon was really good at the continental breakfast! I told the hostess and she said that they always get compliments on the bacon!

Eating breakfast at the buffet, I realized how bad it looks when you are on a carb free diet. My Mom brought me a plate piled with only eggs and bacon. I DID have a cheese danish though! Hey man, it’s tough being displaced from your house in a hotel that is NOT accessible!

I had to set my Mom straight this morning just as I had to set Adam (Phil) and Michael straight at Barwis.

Sean seems to think and has told me that I am, “Hugh maintenance.” I have constantly corrected him by saying that I am NOT “High maintenance”, I am just “High standards!” Now, I will admit that I am pretty particular about things but I don’t even wear make up!

Sean and I have had discussions about whether it is an MS thing or if that’s just how I am. I think that MS may intensify things but, I think that’s just the way I am. It’s extremely difficult when you have to depend on other people to do things that you used to be able to do by yourself and you no longer are able.

So it HAS to be correct! DUH?!

Phil was the first person to call me this when I said something about the arrangement of some kind of gym equipment or something. I can’t even remember what it was but I wanted something arranged in a particular way and before he started to rearrange it, he said, “Okay, Princess.” I laughed really loudly and then told him that I am NOT a princess! I was already in my 30s by then and I told him, “I am a Queen.” He laughed at that.

I don’t remember what me and Michael were talking about at Barwis but it was years later and he too said, “Okay Princess!” I’m not even sure if I laughed when he did that because I was in my mid 30s at that point but I had no qualms in letting him know that, “I am a Queen!”

So today, during our morning routine, I told my Mom that I wanted something done a certain way to which she replied, “Okay, Princess!” Even though I am now in my late 30s, I laughed because I thought of both Phil and Michael calling me a “Princess.” I KNOW that I am DEFINITELY a Queen now but it does make me take pause at the fact that three different people called me that at three different times in my life. But I guess that doesn’t matter because, I AM a Queen!… at least, that is what I tell myself!

I’ve been thinking about my aunt Rita a lot lately.

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She died of cancer four days after my 8th birthday and four months after my Abuela’s death, her mom.

My Mom recalled and told a story from her youth to me. My Abuela was getting plumbing work done from a neighbor and friend of the family. He was a Canadian-Indian man who spoke broken English with a very thick accent. He was gruff.

He ended up doing work in the bathroom and had my Abuela corral all of the kids. He wanted to speak to the kids (My aunts and uncles). My Mom is one of nine kids. Mr. Giasson asked all of the kids their names. Once he got to my aunt Rita and after she answered, he said, “So, you’re the mean one.“

My aunt was just a teenager then but she unapologetically and without hesitation simply said, “Yes, I am.” I laughed when my Mom told me this story. I told her that maybe I get my feistiness from my aunt! My mom assures me that I get it from my Dad.

For anyone who has known both of my Parents, I am more like my Dad than like my Mom. I once told my Mom that I wished I was more like her and she simply replied, “Yeah.” Like my Dad, I also, “Don’t take nothing off nobody!”

I loved my aunt Rita so much and hearing this story makes me love and miss her even more! It’s only now that I am a grown-up can I really know and appreciate just how strong of a woman she was and the fact that she was unapologetically, “The mean one.”

The other day, my niece, Alyssa, was at my house in the morning and she took her shoes off. She didn’t have socks on so my Mom gave her an old pair of Sean’s socks. They were his dress, school socks from fourth grade. The socks fit my niece who is 13.

We sat in my kitchen and I explained to her that by the time Sean was in fourth grade, his feet were bigger than mine. One time, I had two plumbers come to our second apartment and work on my bathtub. One guy told me that I must have a lot of kids. He said that because I kept my Chucks under the desk that was by the corner of my living room.

I didn’t understand what he meant by he said but as they were working, they called me into the bathroom to ask me a question. I stood in the doorway and the same man who said that I had a lot of kids saw me wearing Chucks. He realized that those shoes under the desk were mine. At that time, I think I had 12 pair (All different colors of course!). How do you told him that I only had one son.

I wear a boys’ size 3 in Chuck’s. Sean did not even have those socks when we lived in our second apartment (that’s how they were still in my house). So, Sean has been bigger than me for a long time!

As I am planning this graduation party, I think about how little he used to be. My youngest niece, Cataleya, also came over today and Sean could not get over how small she was. I told him then he was even smaller! He was a preemie and today I realized how small he really was!

His growth has really been getting to me lately. Of course he’s bigger than me! I am only 5 feet tall! A few days ago, we were in my living room and I can’t remember what we were talking about but we ended up having our hands clasped together and Sean suggested that we have a thumb war.

OF COURSE I lost!!! Check out the size disparity. My thumb is the thumb on the left if you didn’t know.

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