Hell hath no fury like a woman with a full bladder and nowhere to empty it. Scrap that: hell hath no fury like a wheelchair-using woman waiting for someone to vacate the only accessible stall in a public washroom with plenty of unoccupied toilets. And can you blame her/them/me? It's hard enough to locate a … Continue reading Stalled
One of the few happy consequences of my recent confinement was that I had plenty of time to implement stage one of my training for a 10k I’ll participate in this coming May. To the unimaginative among you, it might seem strange that I committed to a race when I can’t walk to the corner, … Continue reading In Training
… I’m free! My inner drama queen had started to wonder if my period of confinement disproved that "this too shall pass" adage that rankles me when all I'm trying to do is see the glass half empty. Yesterday, for example, which was particularly bad from the “me cooped up and resentful that most people’s … Continue reading Twelve Days Later …
I'm now at the one-week mark of my current captivity. More like a week and a half, actually, since last Saturday's reprieve was so brief—more a tease of what I hadn't had for days (and haven't had in the time that's elapsed between then and now) than anything else. Counting from part one of the … Continue reading Plowing Through (No Thanks to a Plow)
For the most part, things have been going as well as could be expected in a world that’s crumbling to pieces. In the few weeks that have elapsed since my husband and I got home from our latest trip, I've managed to preserve a healthy level of that relaxed vacation energy while also diving back … Continue reading Drain of Energy
Last night just after 10:00 PM EST, I wheeled through the door, had a third dinner, unpacked because I'm constitutionally incapable of neglecting a bulging suitcase for more than thirty minutes, took a long bubble bath, then slept for eight hours straight, unheard of for me. I woke up disoriented in my own bed, half-expecting … Continue reading Same Same but Different
I’m writing this (and publishing it, if I manage to finish it quickly enough) while on a plane bound for Victoria, BC. It’s been six years since I last visited the city in which I was born and grew up. The long separation hasn’t been by choice; until now, my health’s made the trip unfeasible. … Continue reading Go West, Young Wheelchair
It was an unusually long summer and fall in Toronto, a period marked by eerily comfortable temps that lingered well into November and delayed the inevitable freeze of an Ontario winter. As much as I'm alarmed by what T-shirt-in-October days might signal, I was pretty fine with leaving my parka in the closet until weeks … Continue reading Trial by Snow
It's the 500-kilometre anniversary of the fortuitous pairing of me and my power wheelchair, a match made in mobility heaven. The time and distance have flown by—too fast, sometimes (I should probably do a better job moderating the speed at which I drive). My power chair isn't a part of my identity, really, but has … Continue reading And Now We Are 500
I've never had strong feelings about getting older. The inexplicable workings of my mind make my age tick up as of January 1, so by the time my birthday rolls around, I've already had ten months to get used to a new number. (It just occurred to me that my brain is only in sync … Continue reading A Happy Birthday
De Morbo Sacro: Life and/with Epilepsy 