Back when I was super active on Facebook, I made a photo album called A Boy and His Ladder. It was entirely dedicated to all the places my husband found to be up off the ground. You must understand, there were a lot of pictures there. He was always up doing something on a ladder: cutting down a Bradford pear, fixing our chimney, rescuing Jackie from trees, or painting the upper reaches of our cathedral-ceilinged living room. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground. But I respect his eagerness to escape the bounds of the earth.
We had a brief visit with the kids tonight, just long enough for the Mr to help take down the tree in their backyard that has been dead since they bought the house a few years ago. The baby and I stayed inside and watched Clue the movie and chatted about nothing. She did a lot of unsupported standing, and took a step or two, but there had to be something she really wanted for her to let go for each step. Like her mother. Or chocolate. Or her mother holding chocolate. We were having such a good time, Grumpus and I, that I forgot to take any pictures of her. Trust me, she is still as cute as she was a few days ago. Maybe moreso.
Today was a milestone day for my disability mitigation. I saw my rheumatologist, and got her caught up with everything new in this past quarter. We discussed my status with the lung problems, and the new tests ordered by the pulmonologist. I told her I got a case manager assigned by my insurance provider, and in that context, I got the nerve to revisit something this doctor denied me a few years ago. I told her how the case manager is supportive of me getting a handicapped parking pass, as a way of increasing my ability to get out and do things. And this time, my rheumatologist agreed. In fact, she jumped on it and had the nurse bring me signed forms when they came to do my semi-annual blood draw.
I'm still in shock that it was so easy. I have needed this a long time, and when it was a losing battle two years ago, I was super discouraged. But now that it is in my grasp, I don't quite know what to do with it. I'm going to be able to go places again! I still won't go anywhere that requires me to stand for hours, but I may be able to go someplace like Red Rocks amphitheater for the first time in years. (Standard parking is down along the road, and you have to hike up the mountain to get to it. Last time I tried, I had a stranger cheering me on the whole way up, like a track coach, else I would have given up and missed the show.) Before any of you think this is a sign of me giving up, getting a handicap parking placard, know that it is exactly the opposite. This is me finding a mobility aid that keeps me going. This is only positive.
I hope to get the placard tomorrow. The forms are signed, but when I drove up to the DMV, there was a widely-spaced line that ran around the corner outside the office. It felt counterintuitive to stand in an hour long line for a placard that says I have trouble walking and standing. I will try to go early in the morning, in the hopes that the line will be shorter. I'll remember my cane so I have something to lean on too.
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