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.

@Effortwillpay

I started following @Effortwillpay on twitter awhile ago.  They tweet some AWESOME quotes that help to encourage me to persevere in my journey toward walking at Barwis Methods.  Their profile says that it is Effort Pays Motivational Apparel.  I thought, “I can DIG this!”  I saw a tweet from them that said you could retweet for a chance to win a wristband.  Cool! So I retweeted the tweet.  The next day, I got a direct message from them that said they were going to send me a wristband.  SCORE!  Hunter Shea (the president and CEO) also wrote me that he read my website (my blog link is on my Twitter profile) and said that my story is inspirational.  But really, it’s tweets like the ones that @Effortwillpay tweet that inspires ME!  We sent a few messages back and forth and I gave him my address and I tweeted what arrived in the mail this morning:

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How TOTALLY RAD is this?!  It’s my NEW uniform for Barwis Methods.  You should check out their website Effortwillpay.com or follow them on Twitter @Efortwillpay.

In this package, a REALLY nice letter was enclosed with words of encouragement for me.  The letter ended with this quote:

“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on –

it is going on when you don’t have strength.”        -Napoleon

Is that GOOD or is that GOOD?!  It’s GOOD.

#DPM2 For Real!!!

So I went to my local bookstore to pick up a couple of books.  Right now it is 78 degrees and humid so it seemed a bit much for me to get out of the car.  I was by myself so I called them, paid for my order with my credit card, and the manager ran my books out to me.  Wow! I guess disabled people matter too!  I was speechless for a bit!  I drove away but then drove back to take a picture and put them on Front Street.  Thanks guys! #DPM2 For Real!!!

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#DPM2 In The Rain

I am a prideful being to a fault and am working on accepting help because I NEED it.  People often see my chair topper  in motion and comment that it is cool.  I always reply, “Except in the rain.” (Chair topper = NOT COOL in the rain.) I qualify that answer by explaining that the chair topper operates at 1 speed.  There is no “ramming speed” for it in the rain so I am exposed to the elements for the duration of its operation and get soaked.

Additionally, people often offer to help move me physically (be it moving my limbs or pushing my chair).  They ask if they can give me a hand to which I reply with a smile, “Two legs would be nice!”  Although help would be appreciated and often NEEDED.  Pushing a wheelchair IS rocket science (I have been run into many people and things when I am at the mercy of novice drivers).  Moving the limbs of someone who has MS (for me) is near impossible at times, (Just ask Phil!) and is painful.

So, people have offered to help me which I very often decline but no one has ever done this for me.  I retweeted this pic and got a 10 favorites and 6 retweets.  I think that would be helpful because #DPM2. (Disabled People Matter Too)

Finest Hour

I got this CD yesterday in the mail.  I ordered it from Amazon JUST before I received an email from Gavin DeGraw’s people telling me to place the order for the new CD.

I JUST did!  But look at the cool stuff I COULD have gotten in addition to this GREAT CD!!!:

Ah the perils of being impatient!… and poor!

It is a GREAT CD!  Love, Love, Love it!!!

Super Bowl XLIX: The 12th “Men”

Well, as it was last year, I pick the loser.  It’s my stilo. What can I say?  But, in my defense, I REALLY thought the Seahawks would win.   They were 20 seconds away from doing so!

One would think (as many of my colleagues thought) that I would be a Patriots fan being that Brady is a fellow U of M alumni BUT… I saw an interview that Russell Wilson gave on NFL Network just before the NFC Championship game in which they told of his father’s death just after him signing to play professional baseball.  Now, my father has been gone 8 years now and I miss him terribly and I mean no disrespect to anyone but when I heard this fact, my ears perked up and my eyes welled with tears.  I thought that Russell Wilson is in the club too!  It’s the “Dead Dad’s Club.”  It is an extremely exclusive club, and one that you don’t wish for others to join but once they gain membership, they are given a wordless hug of welcome.  There are no words that can comfort once your dad dies.  Upon watching the interview further, I learned that his father died from complications stemming from Diabetes which is what my father died from so not only are we members of the same club, we have seats at the SAME table.  When I heard this, the tears spilled out of my eyes.

This is when I decided that if they won, me and Sean would be 12th “men” for the Super Bowl even though I’m a woman (Mike calls me that ALL THE TIME) and Sean is a “man-in-training” because he is only 13. I hope to raise a good man but we will see.  I ordered shirts from NFLshop.com but my order was lost so we didn’t have shirts for the Super Bowl.  I hoped to get Championship t-shirts once they won but … you all know what happened.

87th Academy Awards

So, I watched most of the Oscar’s on Sunday.  Cried my eyes out at Tim McGraw’s cover of  Glen Campbell’s song even though I am NOT a HUGE Country fan because they told WHY he was singing in Glen Campbell’s place (the progression of the disease is too far gone for him to perform).  I cried.  I looked for an adequate video to share but couldn’t find one on Monday (it was poor quality) but I cried again.  I finally found one and I even showed the video to one of my 7th grade classes, a student asked me to turn the lights out.  It was lucky for me because I cried again.  It was also lucky that the bell rang to end class so I could keep the lights off when a student opened the door to leave.  Then, I collected myself for the next class.

How beautiful to write this before…

Check it out:

“I’m Not Gonna Miss You”   Glen Campbell sung by Tim McGraw

Da

So, I have been without my car radio for so long that random songs will just pop up into my head.  As I was just about to fall asleep last night, I thought of this one.  I saw U2 live with my brother and a few other colleagues.  I saw them perform this song but that was when MY DAD was still alive.  It’s different for me now.  I used to drive to work and listen to this song in the months just after he died and I used to ball the whole way to work.  I’d wear my sunglasses into the building even though it was before daylight savings time and it was still pitch black outside.

I listened to this song a few times last night and cried EVERY time.  I still do now.  Because I was Irish in my past life, I guess I used to call him “Da” too.  I always called my dad, “Daddy” but I guess it really doesn’t matter…

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”  U2