Imagine always pushing uphill

I have spent the last 2 weeks fighting an infection.  It was exacerbated by toxic exposure to voc's (shocking as an artist that I would be exposed.) and then I developed viral pink eye.  Several years ago, I suffered a bit of a breakdown because I was pushing too hard trying to do too much under stress and working at 3 significant jobs at once.  My mother still gets on me about doing too much.  She really needn't bother, my body tells me when I have overextended my constitutional budget, such as right now.  So here I am, trying to recover from several ailments, all at once.

Being sick drives, me nuts.  It is a waste of time, costs me money, inconveniences my employer and friends and puts my students at risk.  This is all; however, transitory and I will recover.  It does tend to help me remember one of the bravest people I knew.  She lived her entire life with scoliosis and yet she water skied, flyfished, hunted camped while she could.   As time went on she fought to keep moving, despite the desperate curvature of her spine.  She endured a laminectomy, and 20 years later had 9 vertebrae in her back fused.  By that time, she went everywhere with a walker that she adapted to fit her needs and uses, continued to garden and went to art shows with me and her daughter (my mother).  Eventually, she was confined to her home on oxygen because of her smoking habit combined with her loss of lung capacity from the scoliosis. It seems when you can't stand upright, you compress your lungs.

At 84, we lost this wonderful woman; but she taught me a valuable lesson:  No matter what you are going through, there are other who are achieving more with less physical ability.  Years ago, we would see handicap parking spaces and wonder about the limitations of the people who need them.  Social media has brought to light how much people accomplish with their limitations.  I watched a paraplegic build his children's bedroom while in a wheelchair, a singer who performs with her own designed leg prothesis (which are really cool by the way) and people run marathons with spring replacement legs.  Do they wish they were whole?  I would bet on it but the lesson they are teaching is this, we are our own limiters and our own motivators.

So while I sit here convalescing, I am going to make a list of heroes.  I'm going to start with my grandmother, add my friend's granddaughter, the carpenter, the singer and anyone else who is moving forward instead of wallowing in self-pity with me right now.  If this blog moves you to, consider clicking Here for the Special Olympics, Here for Shriners of Spokane or seek out one that suits your heroes better.