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.

MORE Than a Brief, Shining Moment

Okay, so, the day before yesterday, I read for 45 minutes because the timer on my phone goes off after 45 minutes and I was still reading 101 off! I try to read every single day and I just now I’m starting to really get into this book. Because it’s reading month and my birthday month, of course I’m going to read!

I have bread almost every day of my entire life! However, it is a new occurrence and hi wrote about it previously on my blog when it started to happen. It’s been a brain for about a year now but my vision is beginning to go. It’s difficult to read small print and sometimes I just can’t focus at all! It’s really quite awful but I will read for as long as I can. I have to hit my reading goal for this year because I won’t be displaced the next time the power goes out because I have a generator now.

So, two days ago, I was able to read for the full 45 minutes without the beard is getting the, “Green leopard print” on them. Yesterday, I was only able to read for 25 minutes before my eyes started to fade but today, I soldier through and ran for a total of 45 minutes today as well. I would say after about a half hour, I will be in to see the beginnings of little green spots but I wanted to continue reading.

I don’t know if it’s a bad thing or not to push my vision to be able to read but I have an eye doctor appointment on my birthday so I will ask then. Normally, when I start seeing green spots, I stop reading because it scares me a little bit. But today, I was into the book and I wanted to rain for the full 45 minutes because I wanted to let myself know that reading for the full 45 minutes is MORE than a brief, shiny moment!

Benny-Bear

I first met Ben in the spring or the summer after my first year teaching. We were still living in our first apartment. He was the new security guard in our guard shack of our gated community. I was still pretty new there and since he was new, I stopped my car to introduce myself and Sean and tell him where we lived.

I remember one evening, Sean and I went to get Slurpee‘s and it was a really warm night. I offered to bring him back one when we came back home. That was when Ben and I became friends. He is slightly younger than me and he worked there for a number of years. We were living in our second apartment when he left. He came by to see our house when we first moved in and he doesn’t even live in Michigan anymore but we text.

It wasn’t until after I saw the movie, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days that I started calling him, “Benny-Bear.” I don’t know that I have called him that to his face but he is saved in my phone as, “Benny” so I probably did! Well, last night I put Gavin DeGraw on shuffle and I heard this song:

It made me think of Benny and our first apartment. More Gavin DeGraw songs played and I thought vividly about cleaning the kitchen or the fridge and doing laundry when Sean slept. This morning, I still was thinking about those times and I texted Ben this picture:

I told him that I was thinking of him yesterday and in our texting conversation, realized that I have known him for some 15 years now. That’s kind of crazy!

I’m Too Old!

I will joke with my Mom and even Sean that Sean and I grew up together. And it’s pretty much true. I was so young when I had them that we really have! I used to joke with him that when he graduates, the next day, I am booking myself on a singles cruise! Well, his graduation is coming up in a little over two months and I will NOT be traveling on a cruise.

I remember when he was young and into High School Musical; I watched it with him. My Mom and Sean still joke about the look on my face when Troy and Gabriella broke up in the second movie!

I think this was when I realized my guilty pleasure was watching, “Teenybopper” movies even though I was an adult. It was okay though because Sean was still a kid. I didn’t mind watching all of the shows on TV that he watched when we lived in our second apartment. I didn’t mind watching Zoey 101:

Sonny with a Chance:

And Shake It Up at all:


I remember reading the John Green book, The Fault in Our Stars and taking the sixth grade Sean (I think he was in sixth grade) with me to watch the movie adaptation. I even went with a box of Kleenex because I cried so much reading the book. He also had read my copy of the book and I enjoyed sharing reading experiences with him.

I was still teaching middle school back then so I continued reading young adult novels so I could suggest good books to my kids. Sean didn’t read the next books But I recommended them to a number of my students

But back then, Sean also watched movies with me that fed my ”Teenybopper” movie addiction:

Starstruck was my jam and I liked Geek Charming as well!

Now, Sean is too old to share books with me or even watch TV with me. I do, however, have conversations with my niece who is 14. She also is an avid reader which I tell her is a, “Rios Girl” trait and I can say that with the upmost confidence because the previous generation only had one girl in my family (That was me) and I was an avid reader!

So, even after I stopped working, I watched this movie but I did not read the book but I really like John Green:

But after I watched the movie, I found that I didn’t love it as much as I used to love movies and books like this. So, yesterday, as is the life of a homebound person, I put Netflix on and I was going to search for a movie to watch. This was the preview that shows up almost full screen so I clicked on it and watched it:

After I finished watching it all by myself, I decided that maybe I’m too old to enjoy it like I used to. Maybe it’s because Sean is too old to enjoy it with me, maybe it’s because I no longer teach middle school students to discuss books and movies with. It kind of is a sad realization for me to realize that I am too old. I watched the movie yesterday, a week before My 38th birthday. With an 18-year-old kid, I suppose I am too old now!

Technically Tune #63 Inspired by GMFB but…

I think it may have been Tuesday when Jane Slater, who is sitting in for Kay Adams, talked about a combine prospect having this smoothie with Colleen Wolfe:

So, she made this exact smoothie with the guys in the break room. I did not see this segment until I watched the Week in Review today. I couldn’t believe that Jane Slater sang this song as she poured the red Gatorade in:

This song is my JAM and it used to be a ringtone for my house in number 2003 I think. U2 is my ultimate, favorite band and I loved hearing her sing a line in the refrain of this song even just for a moment. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see the segment live!

“You and Those, ‘Baby Hands’”

I had heard this before but it took my Mom telling me this a couple days ago that made me really shocked to think about and I started to laugh.

So here is what happened a couple days ago:

My Mom and I were sitting in my kitchen and eating some lunch. Sean really likes cashews so she brought some over in a bag. As she ate her lunch, she got a few out and began to eat them. They smelled so good to me and I asked her if I could have 10 of them. I held out my right hand and kind of cupped it so I would be able to hold the nuts and eat them with my left hand because I am left-handed.

As she counted out the nuts and put them in my hand, at probably around seven or eight, they began to fall out of my hand. She was disgusted as they bounced off of the floor and she shook her head and said under her breath in disgust, “You and those, ‘Baby hands!’ “

I started to laugh because I began to think about where I have heard that before. If I put all of these incidences in order, the first person to tell me that I had really small hands was my first wheelchair tech, Ty. Adam Schlitt had to hold my hands as Jesse stretched me and he commented on how small they were.

One time, in 2015, Mike Morphitt first told me that I had, “Baby hands” because he had to adjust the straps on a medicine ball that I was holding and working with. Sean and I received mugs as a gift and we were sitting at my table eating dinner. We both had something to drink and I told him that I didn’t think that I particularly liked these mugs because the handle was so big. He looked at me holding it and was shocked that my entire four fingers could fit easily inside of the handle. He only had two in the handle.

Also, my sister-in-law, Melissa, sells Paparazzi jewelry and I have bought some pieces from her. I found out in December I that I fit into and can wear little girl bracelets:

My Mom purchased a mug for me in the beginning of February and her hand does not fit in the handle but she thought that mine would. It does! So, thinking about her comment made me laugh because I recently bought another, “Little Girl” bracelet from Melissa not too long ago. She tried it on and it DID NOT fit and she laughed when I put it on with ease.

My Mom is not as much of a firm believer in the, “5 second rule” as I am but I still think that whole exchange was really funny because I have heard that from many different people that I have, “Baby hands.” It’s a, “Rios” thing because I remember my grandma having small hands and my aunt Crissy has small hands as well so, we ALL have, “Baby hands!”

Where are You Going to Go On Dates, Now?!

My brother posted this on Facebook on Thursday and I shared it:

Art Van has been close to my Parents’ house for my whole life! My Dad used to read in the paper about the annual tent sale in the summer and he would ask my Mom if she wanted to go on a date. He was taking her to Art Van to eat free hotdogs at the tent sale. He always told us that one year, instead of hot dogs, they had bratwursts.

I think my Mom went with him once and they ended up buying furniture. My Dad always went to the tent sale by himself after that. My Mom came with me to buy furniture for Sean and my first and our second apartments. I still have the same furniture some 15 years later! Well, it’s paid for!

I still have the same couches and they are beginning to wear because Sean is grown now but I’ve never sat one them. I have the same dining room set and Charlotte is the only broken one chair. Hi purchased my bedroom set when we moved into our second apartment and I am currently trying to sell it on Letgo because it doesn’t work out for a disabled person anymore.

My Mom was bummed out to hear that they were closing but neither one of us have any money to buy closeout furniture at the liquidation sale. As if she handed me my tea, I asked her, “ Where are you going to go on dates, now?!“. She smiled slightly as she thought about my Dad and the tons sale.

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #86 OR Benny-Bear Pt. 2 OR Its in the Eyes

So, yesterday, as I took pictures of the pictures that were in the album that my Mom brought upstairs, I listened to music on my phone. I chose to listen to Kings of Leon. I listened to the album, Only by the Night about three or four times:

I remembered listening to the CD on loop in my car for months when it came out. Sean and I were still living in Fairlane East at that time. So when I would get home and would slow down to roll by the guard shack, I would wave to, “Benny-Benny.” I thought of him as I cropped the pictures. I decided that I really dug one particular song that I had at but forgotten about:

I laughed at a particular line, and it’s my favorite now!:

I love that line! I told Sean that, “I am no expert but I don’t think that’s how it works.” He laughed. I thought about that song this morning as well, after I texted my Mom, I played it again. It got me thinking that Benny has not even accepted my friend request on Facebook! But I think that’s because the last update he had was in 2014 and I didn’t join until 2016.

His profile picture:

Well, you can’t see but I met him with really short hair but over the years, he grew it out. I always told him he reminded me of Caleb Followill, the lead singer of Kings of Leon:

I remember that I texted him when I was watching, Ms. Potter because I told him that he looked like Ewan McGregor because he does. He told me that he has heard that before.

I don’t know what his hair length or facial hair status is but hearing Kings of Leon reminds me of him as well, it’s in the eyes.p

Benny-Bear Pt. 3

I shared my two previous posts about Benny with him. He set a couple things straight for me. He had a shaved head the entire time he worst at Fairlane east and he didn’t start growing it out until after he left. Sean and I continued living there but I still saw him. He also told me that I called him,”Benny-Bear” to his face. At least I’m consistent?

I just remembered that I had texted him a few weeks ago, when Sean was sick because we were binging Prodigal Son and I totally thought that Malcolm looks like him!

At least that is what I think now. I haven’t seen him for a while!

… Through Memories

Last Saturday, my Mom brought up a photo album from high school from the basement. I didn’t know what it was until I saw the cover:

It kind of blew me away because I wasn’t sure what pictures were inside. Once I opened it, I saw this:

There ended up being a few blank spots in the album and I knew they were of a really good picture but I had no idea what it was. I shared over 65 pictures on Facebook with my Facebook friends, but some of them I saved for me.

I shared this one because I remembered taking it and I thought it was so funny!:

That’s what a selfie looks like when there is a one foot difference in height between the people and you have to send it away to be developed. I like it because I thought it was funny! But then, I saw a few other pictures that reminded me of the life I used to have when I was able-bodied:

It started when I saw this picture. Look at me acting like that was my car and it made me think about it back when I used to be able to drive. I told Sean yesterday that I could still walk in all of these pictures. He told me that was the first thing he noticed. Wow, I can’t anymore.

I remembered taking this picture when we were on senior retreat and I thought it was really cool to see my last name spray-painted on the door. It all seemed like a lifetime ago!

I made that sign for the gym for our basketball game. That was back when I could still paint and write.

That picture made me laugh, from the looks of it, it looks like I could play basketball! I really couldn’t.

That one made me laugh because I was the one who took the over developed picture but I was sitting at the top of the bleachers so back then, I could get all the way up to the top of the bleachers!

This one took my breath away because I remember running around and banging on the pep jug. I’m sure that someone told me to go back to class or something.

But, shortly after all of these pictures were taken, I was diagnosed with MS. 19 years later, I am confined to a motorized wheelchair. Given the weather, I rarely get out at all but I did go with Sean today to vote. It was his first time and I remembered going to vote with my Dad my first time:

Sean let me chronicle this moment by taking a picture. I saw another picture today and I think this is where it all started:

Porath park. It is where I practiced every day during the week in the Spring and had doubleheaders twice a week. I was a catcher. The park was closed due to high levels of lead and mercury the year after I graduated. Reading research, it may be linked to my MS diagnosis. That and I also had mono during my senior year. From the looks of all the pictures, did we ever go to class?! We actually did; I wanted to be in the yearbook class but I got AP Calculus instead. I’m glad I put that class to use! Actually, I am lying but I seem to be living my life through memories now… It kind of hurts.

38

Yesterday, Sean sat on the couch and he let me know that tomorrow is my birthday. I nodded and asked him If he remembered us having a conversation the night before he started first grade. He asked me how old I would be when he was a senior in high school. I thought for a moment and did the math and I will never forget the look on his face when I told him that I would be 38.

He remembered that conversation and I told him that the time is here now. He is 18 and a senior in high school and I am 38 today. It’s crazy that I remember a conversation from so long ago but I can still conjure up the look on his face in my head! 38 is so old! is the kind of luck he had.

It may be but I don’t mind. I told him that turning 38 today makes it sound a little better that I have an 18-year-old. It’s been a pretty low-key day but I like it. I’m wearing my new sweatshirt that I got today from Sean!