News & Advocacy in Disability Rights

Thank God it's Monday

By Cyndi Jones, Publisher

We all have had those days when it seems that everything falls apart, nothing goes right; plans that were made just have to be scrapped. This weekend was one of those times for us. And of course, we had a family gathering to attend.

We had just had our van in for servicing, and the next day it was dead. We think an inadvertent connection drained the battery. We tried all the basics, but whatever the problem was, we were not going anywhere.

Someone suggested that we call AAA for help, but our concern was more than just starting the engine. We use the battery for getting in and out of the van. Would we feel safe on the road thinking that the van might die at any point?

Many times we need to think ahead beyond the next step. If we get in, can we get out? If we go up, can we get down? Disability forces us to think through all the steps to completion.

Although we could "power" through the situation to "get on the road" was it worth the expenditure of energy? At least we were at home and not stranded on the road somewhere. We were safe and warm, certainly not going to starve and in no apparent danger. All things considered, life was OK, just a little inconvenient.

About an hour later, Bill's brace broke. Same story. There was a momentary rush to fix the problem, and then, "Well, can you wait till Monday?"

We could spend an enormous amount of energy getting it fixed "right now" or we could let go, step back, evaluate the situation, take it in and then laugh. There's not much you can do about it till Monday. You might as well enjoy the humor in the situation.

Truth be told, I'd rather have all my crises happen at once, rather than having them strung out for weeks. And as life goes, we pretty much have smooth sailing.

A couple of years ago, we had a similar set of events over Christmas. The repairs couldn't be done until after the new year. But we had a party to go to about 300 miles away. So we rented a van. Guess what? A wind storm came up and dropped a tree on the rented van. Maybe we were just not intended to go to that party.

It is hard sometimes to read the signs, to know when to push or when to relax and flow with the situation.

But this is life with a disability. We rely more heavily upon our equipment and our abilities in our every day lives. If something gets out of whack it can rapidly throw our lives into a spin.

There comes a point when it's best to let go and relax. Kind of like a breath of fresh air.

Cyndi Jones is Publisher of MAINSTREAM.

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