"You are not behaving like a decent person, and I do not respect you."

You are not behaving like a decent person. 

I do not respect you.

Gabrielle Blair, The Consequences of Your Actions


I hope you'll read the above link, because in this post Gabrielle, otherwise known as Design Mom, writes literally everything that I think, on a nearly daily basis, as I struggle to maintain relationships even in my own family. It's incredibly exhausting and debilitating to all involved, I'm sure, even as I acknowledge how it pales in comparison to my fellow human beings who are fighting for their lives.

A lot has happened in the last week or so since I've been here on the old blog. I tested negative for Covid, thank goodness, and I'm sorry I didn't let you know earlier. I took Sophie to the beach for the first time in years -- down to the water -- in her new beach wheelchair that my parents bought for her. I think I'll leave you with these glorious pictures. Having access to the beach again is transformative and brings me to my knees in gratitude. Sophie was so happy.

The Awareness of Birds

Toes of sneakers on a dirty sidewalk with a silhouette of a crow blacked into the concrete.*

I think I told ya'll about my new gig, over at Cerebral Palsy Foundation. I will be writing, I think, monthly about various topics related to disability. CPF consults with the television show Speechless, a hilarious sit-com that very accurately portrays a family who lives with disability. The show features a terrific actor, Micah Fowler, who actually has cerebral palsy. Minnie Driver plays the mother, and I have to say that if it weren't for her being incredibly thin and glamorous with a British accent, the part could be mine.

In any case, this writing gig is awesome, and my first short piece is up on their blog. It's called The Awareness of Birds. March was Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, so the topic for the month was "awareness."

Check out the Cerebral Palsy Foundation website, too. Poke around, donate, increase your awareness.











The Awareness of Birds













*I'm learning about how to caption photos for the vision-impaired. I'm bummed that I haven't been doing this all along, but I guess that means that even the most aware of us need to constantly improve and learn and listen.

Sometimes, if you yell loud enough, yammer on enough and yoke the Powers That Be,

you can yodel in joy. I pulled out of my driveway this morning to go to an appointment and saw all this hullabaloo on the street.

Those are curb cuts going into our neighborhood. Remember when I wrote that open letter to our councilman? I'll be honest. That probably would have been as far as I'd take it. If you haven't figured it out already, I'm beat and bushed, bitter and nearly broken. I might be able to write a good letter and make some calls (years and years worth of calls), but I was basically just extra pissed the day I pressed publish. Perhaps ten years ago or so, I might have just put on a hard hat, gotten Oliver to go buy me a jackhammer with his lemonade stand money and done it myself. But, these days? I'm closer to being my Italian grandmother -- you know -- the one who walked around with a rosary, muttering pray that I die, pray that I die. Well, several wonderful folks in my neighborhood read it and jumped on it and encouraged me to pursue it. We all did it, and lo and behold, it worked. Thank you.

Yup and Yessiree Bob.