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| Robin (Photo credit: blmiers2) |
I run the kind of blog where readers can trust that they’ll
never be subjected to a post about the weather. Nobody gives a shit about other
people’s weather (except my mother-in-law).
So please forgive me, because I am going to mention the weather, but only to inform you of my
feelings. Everyone says they want to know more about my feelings (except my ten
and a half male readers).
All of us here in the Northeast have suffered through an
epic winter – lots of snow and bitterly cold temperatures. For wheelchair users,
winters like this one are long, confining, and borderline depressing. I don’t
do well outside in the extreme cold. I can sometimes manage the snowy
sidewalks, but only on a warmer day.
Please note that the obvious solution is not an option for
us. I have 100 good reasons that I can’t move from here to a warmer climate,
but I won’t bore you with them.
Almost every time I venture out in the winter it begins with
me being loaded into the wheelchair van, and somebody else driving me
around. No independence there. I appreciate my drivers, especially Kim, and I
know my circumstances are preferable to being home-bound, but it does become tedious
after a while.
Twice in the past couple of weeks, on unusually warm days, I’ve
been out in the neighborhood by myself, and it has been liberating. It boosts my spirits when I experience something as ordinary as a warm breeze on
my face. It’s nothing short of therapeutic when I can go to the grocery store
and purchase an item by myself and bring it home. Everyone loves the coming of
spring, but wheelchair users – all the more.
I look forward to a full season with our new stone patio in
the backyard – reading in the sunshine during the day and sitting by the fire
in the evenings. I daydream about taking the greenbelt path to Bug Light Park,
where I can watch the ships come in and out of port. I so want to grab lunch at
Verbena or an ice cream at CIA whenever I like, although I will need to monitor
my waistline more closely. I could go on.
As I sit here on the first day of April, temperatures still struggling to reach the upper 40s, I am like a kid on an extended Christmas Eve. I know the gifts are coming soon, and I just can't wait to unwrap them.
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