Always YOU

I’ve always been a strong spirit. My body is weak now after having MS over 30 years. I’ve found this does not change your essence or the essence of those around you.

The ones who depended on you still depend on you. I’ve found the wheelchair doesn’t stop them.  Physically I am slow, but my mind and spirit are strong. My desire is still strong. I can equate my physical challenges to boxing with one hand tied behind your back. You still need to find a way to survive even with challenges. I need to find a way everyday. I just have to find a way without using my legs. The true challenge lies in finding a way.

My point is even if your physical essence changes, you are still you.  At this point I think of Dana Reeve, Christopher Reeve’s wife.  She said to him in about 1995 after he fell off the horse,  was paralyzed and in a wheelchair…”you are still you and I love you.” She saw the true Christopher Reeve even when he did not see, recognize, or value himself. When Dana recognized him, then he saw himself. He was there all along. He was just in a different form.

The storms of life

A smart, exceptional little girl I had in my Sunday School class came up to me today after mass. I shared with her God created her like she is for a reason just like God created me physically challenged for a reason. I told her I am here for her if she needs me and hugged her. I sometimes feel insufficient because I know more than I did last year. I feel I have so much more to teach them to prepare them for our tuff world that will spit them out if not prepared. I try to give them a life vest of love to keep them a float in life’s storms. I teach them God’s love to hold onto during difficult times. I realize I can be as sufficient as I can be and they need to be as sufficient as they can  be.

Getting rid of a dog

• • When I was 5, my mother gave away my dog and I cried about this loss even as an adult. I cried about this loss all though my life and still think about my Coco to this day and I am in my 40’s now. It is a cruel action to the dog and a cruel action to the child. It wasn’t meant as a cruel action to the child, but it ended that way. My mom told me recently she regretted giving away my dog. So…before you hurt your dog and child forever reconsider giving the dog away. Dogs are pure love. They just need to be trained.

    Terri B.I am going to have to agree with Kim V. My chihuahua was given away while I was away at school when my mom was sick. 😦 I still miss him. He is long dead but I wish I had gotten to see him.

  • Kim V.
    

    The pain of getting rid of a dog stays forever. Whenever I get a dog now I promise him or her that they will be with me forever. I call it the Coco promise. I am a handicapped woman now and my boy poodle is always by my side. He is right now laying patiently by my side. Actually he reminds me of Coco. I think Coco would have been a good dog if he was trained. At 5, I did not know how and I just cried for Coco. Getting rid of a dog who probably just needs training is like throwing away a  diamond in the rough. ???
  • 

    Kim V. A 80 something year old woman told me recently she regrets getting rid of her dog when her kids were young. About 60 years later she still had regret. All people involved and the dog suffers and it stays with you.
  • The little white dog is my current dog, Duke.  I trained my dogs after Coco. I have no formal training, just love. If you need help understanding a dog, contact me.
  • Duke goes with me to the nursing home to visit the residents. The residents love it and Duke loves it.

Attitude

Attitude is amazing. It is all perspective. The power of thought and determination wins every time. I’ve seen “lacking”people  think they had great riches and I’ve seen great riches people have lacking attitude. Happiness seems to result from a joyful attitude of love and sharing.

All you can do is pray

All I can do is pray. I feel so powerless and with God’s help powerful this way. All I can do is pray. I have decided to let go. I pray everyday. I pray for her guidance and strength. Everyday.  All I can do is pray. God Bless you.

So Little is So much

I’ve seen so little being so much to the person who has nothing. I’ve seen such gratitude from people with so little. I’ve seen people with nothing work so hard to help others.

I’ve seen those with so much holding on with clenched hands to their possessions. I’ve seen total disregard for needy people and excuses for having so much. I’ve seen a person wanting approval from others that it was okay to have so much.

We all know the truth of who we are. I have a theory. Everyday we look in the mirror and know who we are and spend the day trying to convince others we are someone else. This is tiring and not true to yourself. Some people live their life hoping no one finds them out and knows the true them. Yikes.

The lessons of life are immense. I think this is just a testing ground for our afterlife. I think food and shelter and water and love rule no matter what. I think the kinds and # of cars do not matter if someone is hungry. As I teach my Sunday school first graders, you only need to do a little. If everyone does a little, big things can occur. This is my life lessons that have led me to this point. God Bless you.

You Can do it

Stories get so much better with time. Times were so much better in the past? Were the Golden Years that golden? Were the good old days really that good? We were heroes in the past…remember? We always won the game when stories are told. Our real selves past or present maybe could not compete with the “SUPER SELF” in stories.

You do not need the “super self”. Just be you. Inch by Inch. Do your little bit. Do your best. No pressure. You can do it.

I also know from my 93 year old Aunt who had Dementia there are 2 Aunt Theresas. Aunt Theresa pre dementia took care of me and the rest of the family.

Aunt Theresa with Dementia…I took care of her. It was a difficult time in my life that I am most proud of since her passing 2010. My best advice for a deep change in a person like this is to look for the little gifts. It could be a memory. It could be a love of something. It could be a shared memory. For me it was when Aunt Theresa who thought I was another niece at the time said…”I love Kim. She is my daughter.” I am Kim and I am Aunt Theresa’s great niece, but Aunt Theresa gave me her feelings for me and a deep love and it warms me like a blanket. I am forever grateful.

Most of the rest of the family just saw Aunt Theresa’s lacking but I also saw the gift this painful situation brings. They forgot about her when she could no longer do for them. I found the joy in the pain. There is no right answer..just the right one for you. Find the joy.

Ignorance is bliss

In life there are different levels of accomplishment or understanding. It is like education. There are grades 1-8. Imagine an 8th  grader being sent back to 2nd grade. How would that feel understanding wise? Only once that level is achieved and understood, a person’s understanding eyes are opened and they generally can not go back. It is like the addage…once you eyes are opened to knowledge it is hard to close them again. Maybe this is where the saying “ignorance is bliss” comes from.

Remember when?… revisited

The old is new again. I found a post I wrote on 9/25/11. I thought you might like it.

I know from my experiences and I see other’s experiences… We all seem to hold onto our childhood in some way. For some, it’s toys that remind them of their toys from childhood. For some, it is their actions as adults that come from their childhood. For some, it is some emotional tie. For some, they live their “glory days” through someone else maybe a kid. I’ve seen people in the nursing home yelling Mom and Dad. It all stays with us and repeats with us over and over in our minds…sometimes like a movie we have seen one to many times. It is funny when you think about it…as a child, we can’t wait to grow up AND as an adult, we wish we could  go back to our childhood. We often re-live these childhood memories over and over and over through our lives. We often even miss these memories. Look at the MOVIE TOY STORY. Our toys get sold and we miss them and we wish we had them back. Maybe… a part of us is lost or sold, when our toys get sold. Maybe? Or maybe… we just realize our childhood is gone forever and all we can hope to get back is our toys. Maybe????????????

 

Gloria Steinem

In October 2011, I rode my scooter to Rollins College. They had a women’s conference there. Gloria Steinem and other women activists were there. I had never met Gloria Steinem before and I wanted to meet her.

I met my friend Zoe Nicholson there. She was one of the activists questioned at Rollins College. It was a very educational, amazing and informative day for me. Zoe and I  are currently Facebook friends.

Zoe posted something about Gloria the other day. It basically said that in 40 years Gloria Steinem had not had a successor to move the Women’s Movement Forward.

I replied to Zoe’s Facebook post accordingly…  Zoe, I think Gloria is the tree trunk and all the people influenced by Gloria are the branches and leaves. Together over 40 years a beautiful tree has grown AND it all started with Gloria. When the time is right, another tree will be planted from Gloria’s seed (thoughts). The trunk will grow strong and it will have beautiful branches and leaves with Gloria’s influence. Gloria influenced so many. Not just one big one but many many and it changed a culture forever. Forever.

Ideas and growth are represented by the growth of a tree. The ideas and influence of Gloria touched many lives. This morning Joy Behar of the View was saying Gloria Steinem was her mentor. She said Gloria changed her life and Joy was expressing her gratitude on TV. Gee, I wounder how many more lives Gloria touched?

I know she touched mine.