Category: A Bit Of Randomness

This category is full of randomness that really doesn’t fit nicely into any of the categories having to do with my road to walking.

RBG

Last night I dozed off in my wheelchair before the documentary that I was excited to see came on. I woke up just in time to see it but I was a bit nervous that I would fall asleep while watching it. I should not have had that worry because it was so phenomenal! I was completely captivated the entire time. The first thing I took notice of is the fact that RBG is left-handed! Just like me! Yay!

I completely fell in love with her and Marty’s relationship! For me to see her eyes light up when she saw video footage of Marty so many years ago made me cry! I did not understand the gravity of all of the hard work she did in the 70s to make my life as a woman the way it is now. Things I take for granted were fought for. I laughed and I cried! I can’t remember seeing a documentary before where I was so touched! I have already downloaded Jennifer Hudson‘s song, “I’ll fight.” I’ve always wanted to get into opera and hearing her speak about it makes me REALLY want to.

I’m so glad that I Just finished the book, The Notorious RBG  for background. My cousin, Melissa, recommended the movie that just came out about her, On the Basis of Sex and I am waiting for it to become available to rent on my TV so I don’t need to leave because it is SO COLD! I am DEFINITELY going to have to buy an RBG shirt! Maybe a mug too… I hope it wins the I asked her for the movie and for the song!

Scoach

MJ Acosta filled in for Kay Adams on Good Morning Football this past week. I’m not sure what it was but it took me a while to wake up once I was seated in my wheelchair and already had turned the TV on. I’m not sure what it was, the weather or something, but I was completely groggy for long time all last week! There were so many times that I wanted to text into the show but I was just too tired to do it. I wanted to comment on Paul Rudd‘s victory for the Nerd Bowl but I just couldn’t.

Sean had an orthodontist appointment Thursday morning and he saw what I was watching before he left. He came into the living room and asked, “Who are these people?!” Shaun O’Hara and Mike Garafolo were also filling in as well as MJ. I just kind of grunted at him and told him, “They’ll be back” talking about Kay, Kyle, and Peter.

The one thing I regret not commenting on on Twitter happened on Friday. I’m not even sure what they were talking about because I had my arms tucked into my sweatshirt and was hadn’t been looking at the TV when MJ said, “Scoach.” I couldn’t even laugh out loud because I was still kind of groggy in the morning but I really wanted to!

I remember when I was working out at Barwis with Michael one time. We were at one end of the gym doing squats and then we needed to go to the opposite side of the gym to use the table. He pushed me in my chair because it was quicker than me pushing myself. As he was doing this, he asked me a question and my response was, “Just a scoach.”

That was the first time I heard Michael laugh really hard! I don’t remember what I was talking about but it WAS just a scoach! I enjoy hearing people laugh, the kind of laugh where they’re kind of surprised at themselves that they’re laughing so hard. That was the kind of laugh I heard from Michael that day. I dug it. It made me smile!

I thought of that time when I heard MJ say, “Scoach” and I wanted to comment on it but I just was not feeling well enough. It was years ago that I made Michael laugh so hard and I don’t remember what we were talking about. I appreciated that MJ brought that memory to my mind but I am still looking forward to Kay being back on the show on Monday.

Ms. Lina and the Dark Chocolate

This morning, my Mom sipped from a mug that I don’t know where it came from. I told her that I do not like that mug has she should take it back to her house. I only drink out of mugs now and I seem to be collecting them. I no longer have the hand strength to hold a regular cup but rather using two hands and shoving one of my hands into the handle makes it easier to hold. It’s one of my favorite things to do!

She laughed when I told her that I didn’t like that mug and she turned her attention to the 2 mug trees I have situated next to my dish drainer. I told her that I didn’t like the shape of the mug, I didn’t like that it tapered at the bottom. She told me that the Santa Claus mug is hers too then. At that remark, I had to be aghast!

“It most certainly is not!” was my immediate response as she looked over my mug trees. “I got that from Ms Lina! It was a Secret Santa gift!” I explained, a little more calmly, that I received that mug a few years ago at work during the week of our Secret Santa Exchange. Ms. Lina had my name.

I had written mugs on my list as well as dark chocolate. Miss Lina had left the wrapped up gift on my desk before school. My second hour class and I head just come into my room as I noticed the gift because first hour was my prep period. The mug was filled with Hersheys miniature dark chocolate bars. My kids wanted me to open the gift and when I did, I got really excited! I had not eaten breakfast that day so I told them that chocolate is an EXCELLENT breakfast!

Since the mug was filled with chocolates, I asked my students if they wanted one. (That particular class only had six students in it and I think a couple of them were not there). Each of the students accepted a miniature chocolate bar as I opened one and popped it in my mouth. DE-LICIOUS!!!

I popped another piece into my mouth as I saw my kids’ faces and began to laugh! They didn’t like the dark chocolate! I told them that they could go get a drink of water from the fountain one at a time. Their faces reminded me of my brother’s face years before.

My brother, Ray, had come over to unplug the drain in my shower because it was slow and he is a plumber and has all of those tools. He came over when I was at Barwis so just Sean was home. I had a cut open bag of dark chocolate pieces on my table.

As my brother finished and was about to leave, he grabbed a piece of chocolate and began to unwrap it. Sean warned him that it was MY chocolate (meaning that it was gross!) but my brother told him that it was his “fee” for unplugging the shower drain as he popped it into his mouth.

Sean told me that he made a disgusted face as he opened his mouth because the chocolate tasted disgusting because it was 90% Cacao. I didn’t see his face but I imagine it was just like the faces my students were making! I think dark chocolate is delicious! And that Santa mug, our use it all year round and it always makes me think of Ms. Lina and the dark chocolate!

The ugly mug is on the left and my Christmas mug from Ms. Lina is on the right.

In It

I saw the movie, Garden State for the first time a while ago and last night, I thought of the scene because that was when I got,” In it.”

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I thought of my first day at WMU and how I was so afraid. I was remembering being curled up on my bed that first night and listening to Third Eye Blind in my room very quietly because I didn’t want to disturb anyone else. I thought about that song before I fell asleep and this morning, I had to look it up and play it on Apple Music.

I was still laying in my bed as Sean got ready for school and I was, “In it.” I played this song a few times before my Mom came over and helped me out of bed.

After I was seated in my wheelchair, my Mom left to take my nephew to work. I switched the TV on to find out that GMFB was a compilation of previously viewed clips so I turned the TV off. I turned Third Eye Blind back on and continued to be, “In it.”

After we completed it our morning routine, my Mom left and I picked up the book I’m reading. I guess I was, “In it” there too because now I am just about 2/3 of the way finished with the book i’ve been reading for only three days.. I only stopped reading to eat dinner. (It’s Taco Tuesday today so we ordered tacos from a local restaurant. They are only a dollar today).

It reminded me of probably my second no third year teaching. For Christmas, the English department got a bunch of student books. We came back to school from Christmas break to find stacks of books on all of our desks. Before putting them on the bookshelf, I had to mark them according to their reading level. We all received two or three copies of all four of the Twilight books.

As the students were reading by themselves, I made the mistake of opening up one of the books and began reading. I got into the car after work (my brother, Jimmy, and I worked together at the time) and I told him that I was frustrated because NOE I HAVE to read the series! I didn’t want people knowing how much of a Reading nerd I was! I finished all four books in five days.

I was just so wrapped up in the story likr I am today. I finally watched a little bit of TV as I ate my tacos but once I was finished, and turned the TVoff and continued reading. I guess that I’m, “In it!”

Fort Sill

My Mom has been changing up the music we listen to during our morning routine. She doesn’t like my music so I let her decide what will listen to She decided on Justin Bieber‘s, “Sorry” today. When I search it in Apple Music, we can hear this song over and over again which doesn’t bother either one of us.

That is a random song for her to choose, I know, but it is a Barwis song.! In 2015, I was going to Barwis strong thinking that walking was on the horizon, not too far away. She actually had to remind me that it was a Barwis song years ago. Even though I LOVED seeing her sway her hips and move her arms to the music and mouth the words but that is NOT what this blog post is about.

Just before my Mom attached the pads to my knee for my tens unit, she talked to me about living in Oklahoma with my Dad. I’ve known my whole life that they used to live in Oklahoma at Fort Sill when they were first married (where I just read that RBG and her husband lived also). I’m surprised that I do not know all of the details because I never have asked my Mom before.

She told me that my Dad did not want to live in military housing so he got an apartment for them. My Mom talked about how forlorn my Dad saw her look when they entered the apartment. The previous tenants we’re guys so my Mom told me that it was really dirty! She has told me before that the kitchen was the brightest room in the apartment.

It was yellow. She told me that after she cleaned it up by scrubbing it down that she cut out a design on contact paper and put them on the cabinets. They were vines and flowers. I like to hear her tell the story and I ask her if she has any pictures and she does not. BUMMER! I like hearing stories about this part of her and by Dad’s life that I know nothing about!

As she described cleaning the kitchen and making it bright. she raised her hands on either side of her face with her fingers spread apart and said in a singsong voice, “Sunshine!” I immediately thought of this song:

It’s funny how all things always point back to U2 for me but I really like hearing about their time in Fort Sill.

“Okay, Princess!”

My son has made fun of me for a long while that I am late to the meme game. And that could be very true but I saw this one a couple days ago and memories of Barwis came up and made me smile.

I’m not going to lie, I’m a pretty particular person. I can be meticulous and have a lot of pet peeves if you will. I would not say that I am “High maintenance but rather, “High standards.“ Pretty early on, in working with Adam, whom I called “Phil,” he became aware of a lot of my idiosyncrasies and pet peeves.

I was not embarrassed by letting him know that something bothered me. I can’t even remember what I had told him, I kind of wish I did because that would make it a little more funny but, I said something to him to which he responded, “Okay, Princess!” I laughed and set him straight by telling him that I am NOT a princess, I am a Queen! He laughed about that!

I think it was a few years after that conversation that I started working with Michael Rhoades and he said the same thing to me! “Okay, Princess!” I had to set him straight also! I am too old to be a princess, I have paid my dues and I am now a Queen!

It was funny that these two men said this about me and I don’t think they talk to each other about it. At least I am consistent! I miss Barwis so much! I hope that I can get back there soon! I’m not really sure of that because my knee STILL hurts!

Everywhere

My Mom and I were pretty laid-back yesterday. She got a call from my new wheelchair tech, Brad, where he told her that he would come by my house in a while because he was in the city of Dearborn on Thursday. My wheelchair needed further adjustments and he will come back sometime next week to hopefully finish them. After she got that phone call, we decided we had to get to work so she told me that she wanted a song that would make her move quickly.

OfF COURSE, we decided on this song! She has told me that that is a really good, “Walking Song.” My Mom’s house is very near to Hemlock Park and that is where she would go to walk around the track that surrounds it.

For me, this song is more about my Mom cleaning the house! She would always listen to the Fleetwood Mac CD while she cleaned and also when she cooked. As we listened to this song, I saw me as a child and her in my minds eye cleaning her house or snapping in the kitchen while cooking. My Mom had the LOUDEST snap in the world!

We got finished with all of our morning routine and even ate breakfast before Brad showed up! I guess the song worked!

We listened to Journey’s Essentials today.

Chalk

Yesterday, as I was thinking about Barwis with fondness and missing it so much and with the latest blog post in my mind that talked about Adam and Michael calling me, “Princess,” another fond memory came to mind and I laughed to myself all morning!

The memory I had had to do with chalk. Specifically, the chalk that all the athletes put on their hands to better grip the bar. There was a little basin with chalk that the athletes would use often. I remembered telling Adam that I wanted to use it and maybe that it would help me perform better at squats. He told me to go ahead and get some.

I think I first need to say that I am NOT an athlete! What I found out TOO LATE was that you were supposed to just dip your fingertips into the chalk and then rub your hands together to spread the chalk on your hands. Well, when Adam told me to go ahead, I put both my open hands entirely into the chalk!

I texted Adam who is saved in my phone as “Phil“ (because that’s what are used to call him) and told him that I had been laughing all morning and asked if he remembered the, “Chalk fiasco at Barwis.” He did and told me that he remembers the chalk exploding and getting on everything within 100 feet of me! I responded with a😂.

A little while later, I texted him again and told him that he was it within 100 feet of me and asked him if I got it on him. He told me that, “It was all over [him]! Especially on the floor.” I responded to those texts with 9 😂.

After receiving those texts from him I laughed even harder ALL DAY LONG! I thought it was pretty cool that he still remembers that and it happened so many years ago. It was really funny that I had forgotten about it until yesterday and the more I thought about it, the more I laughed! The fact that he remembers it to made me laugh even harder! Well, now I know how to put chalk on my hands but I don’t think I will do that ever again!

Helium

So I have seen this commercial so many times and today I told Sean that I do not understand it. I didn’t understand why they were talking that way! Sean was laying on the couch and told me quite matter-of-factly, kind of like, “Duh, Mom?!” that they hit a helium truck. That’s all he had to say and I had laughed and laughed! I just saw that commercial again a little while ago and I laughed some more!

Able-Bodied

A student of mine a couple years into my teaching, when I still taught English, told me about a dream she had about me. She was really cute about telling me about it. She didn’t want to upset me. She told me that she had a dream where I was walking up the stairs in the school. (I had just gotten into a manual chair then) and I remember smiling and feeling warmth in my heart! Back then, I used to dream all the time about walking! I’d have dreams where I was running a marathon (which I have never done, nor do I want to!) or even just dust my furniture or scrub my tub on my hands and knees.

As my disease progressed, 100% of my dreams were of me being able-bodied. When I started out at Barwis, Dusty worked the front desk and told me once that he had seen a lot of people in wheelchairs come through there but there is something about me that made it seem like I did not belong in one.

Well at Barwis, I worked so hard to get up and walking but when I injured my knee, I stopped going there. I miss it so much! And it makes me sad but Dr. Frush said not to go back until my knee stopped hurting. My knee still hurts! I hope to get back there one day!

Well, today, my Mom got to my house and told me that she had a dream last night that I was walking. I was the current age I am now and she told me I was a bit unsteady but I was still walking! When she told me this, I thought of that student and of Dusty. It’s got to be true someday!

I still have hope for that happening one day even though it’s hard to see that with my knee hurting so badly! As of late, I do not dream anymore and I do not sleep very well either which is a product of my disease but I still have daydreams of walking again one day and being able bodied again!