The Lucky One

I haven’t posted anything in weeks and it looks like I have caught a case of writer’s block. I am constantly looking everywhere for something to spark my interest – the news, Pinterest, books, songs, Facebook, quotes, etc. I even stumped as low as to google “blog topics”.

I thought about writing my take on the Te’o girlfriend hoax and the negative effects of social media, but I can’t complain about how people use Facebook…it’s how I got most of you to read this blog post! Just don’t pretend to be someone else, got it?

Nonetheless, after much deliberation, I decided to write about something a little deeper...something that stemmed from an insurance man’s visit at work on Friday.

As many of you know I wear a cuff on my left hand to help stabilize my weak wrist and for 6+ years, it as been an extension of my body and I don’t think much about it – this is not the case for some of the numerous people who walk by my desk at work on a daily basis. I get asked at least once a month if I have carpal tunnel or something along those lines…Friday was one of those days. Most times I say no and explain that I sustained a spinal cord injury and my hands/wrists were affected, but every once in awhile, I’ll take the easy way out and say yes to carpal tunnel so I don’t have to explain and get the face.

I know what you’re thinking…what’s the face? Well for me, the moment I explain my injury, the person in which I am talking to turns a little bit red and embarrassed, tilts their head to the side, and has a look of sorrow on their face. The face is immediately followed by the phrase, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

I know it’s a tough situation and you don’t know how to react…heck, I just blind-sided you with the fact that I am paralyzed, but if I could tell anyone anything, it is please don’t feel sorry for me. Yes, I went through a tragic accident, but I’m a happy, healthy woman living a great life and well...I am one of the lucky ones.

You see, when I went to Rhode Island in August, I met 28 wonderful women who lived their lives in a chair…some of them had spinal cord injuries, like myself, but a good majority of them were born with their disabilities. One day while at lunch, I had one of the women ask me what it was like to run and what it was like to dance. I was a bit perplexed for a moment, but it was at that moment that I realized how lucky I really was. Unlike some of those women, I had those opportunities as an able-bodied person for 19 years…I was able to run, dance, and live that “normal” life. Not everyone has had the chance to experience those things.

Like I mentioned in My Plan or His, I don’t think God necessarily planned for me to jump out of that tree and become a quadriplegic, but it happened. It has helped me become the woman I am today and for that I am not sorry about what happened on July 22, 2006, and I can only hope that you aren’t sorry either.

Remember, I’m a lucky one – carpal tunnel or not…now what about you?