What can you do?

Over the past year I have been dizzy, staggered around like a drunken Jack Sparrow – including the arms flapping around, been nauseous and on and on it goes.  I could use this as an excuse to sit around and watch TV all day and do absolutely nothing, or I can get creative.

The problem when I get creative though is that can be “dangerous” – just ask Mike!  Once he realized that my creativity sometimes was a bit too quirky he started helping me to find other ways to do things that maybe I won’t hurt myself doing them.

Over the past year I have crocheted quite a bit.  I made almost all of my Christmas presents and it was so much fun.  I had my first paid order last year and that was such a thrill for me.  I may not crochet fast, but I enjoy it all the same.  I also found out by accident that it works as sort of a therapy for my left side when it is feeling off.  My muscles in my left arm will tighten and draw up, but when I crochet it relaxes that arm and the feeling goes away after some time.

Mike has also taught me how to garden.  This is very entertaining because I have even killed cacti in the past!  We bought me a garden stool on wheels and I sit down and hoe for a few minutes and then rest for longer than a few minutes and repeat the process.  Mike never rushes me and he never tries to take over my rows either – he just works on “his” side of the garden and lets me go at my own pace on “my” side of the garden.  By going slow and steady I was able to make 10 pounds worth of green tomato pickles – that really made all that time worth it!  I am really looking forward to our garden again this year and can’t wait to take it slow and steady to get the job done!

I have also started to learn how to deer hunt and then how to prepare the deer to go on the table (I am being nice and not going into detail here).  I found out that the sound of the gun going off makes me very dizzy – I am sensitive to sound.  But I am also not that bad of a shot either.  So here I am doing target practice, I would get ready, take my shot, let my head spin for a couple of minutes, and then look through the scope to see how I did.  I am sure that is not the exact way that you are suppose to do it, but hey it works!  Mike and I were not able to kill a deer this year, but his step-dad did and Mike’s mom taught me how to prepare it to be canned or made into beef jerky.  I know there are people who don’t agree with killing animals and if you are killing for the fun of killing then I agree with you, but in my case we are putting as much of that deer as we can on the table.  When you live on a fixed income you learn other ways to help you stretch those pennies and killing and dressing your own deer is one way to do it, plus you get really lean healthy meat!

Mike likes to tell this story:  We had gone hunting and were sitting in the woods – I was sitting up Indian style.  He said he looked over at me and I went over slowly onto my back.  I will still sitting Indian style with my knees sticking straight up.  Mike asked me are you alright?  I replied yeah I am fine, why?  Mike told me that I fell over and I argued with him “no”.  Mike asked me what do I see straight in front of me.  I said “the sky”, and still said that I never fell over.  Mike asked me to look at my knees sticking straight up in the air.  I stopped arguing and asked him when did I fall over.  Then Mike told me that I started laughing and told him I don’t remember falling. 

I have also started using those electric buggies’s at Wal-mart when needed.  They should charge people money for the carnival ride that you are about to take when you take your life into your own hands and use one of those things!  Most of them pop into reverse when you stop – I have held my hands in the air and backed up down the aisle.  The bad thing is that Mike is usually holding on to the back of me and letting me pull him in his wheelchair so when I start backing up I may or may not run over him.  They should also give you a neck brace when you drive one of the buggies for the whiplash you are going to receive when it stops and throws you forward like you were just rear ended by an 18 wheeler.  You can also blame the buggy when you accidently bump into somebody, their buggy or their children when they keep cutting you off.  “Oops – the electric buggy wouldn’t stop” LOL

I have also learned that a great bunch of people go to church; and not just my church, but my Dad and Judy’s church and my uncle David’s church also.  At my church the people have learned what I can and cannot do and they help me to work with it and still be able to participate in activities.  That is one thing I worry about is missing activities, but the people in my church have helped me to still participate and I love that about them.  Over the Christmas holidays I was in Alabama and attended several services with my dad and Judy at their church.  Those people did not know me from the stranger at the store, but they helped me out also.  I hate to say that I don’t remember their names and cannot give credit where credit is due, but the ones who let me hold their arm while I walked around, or pushed in chairs so I would not trip that really meant a lot to me!  The people at dad and Judy’s church learned that I could not turn quickly to look at them to talk so they always came into my line of sight instead of standing off to my side and it is amazing how much little things like that make a person feel welcomed!  At my Uncle David’s church I attended his Sunday school class.  In the middle of that class I had a number of seizures and they stopped the class to help me.  There was a very nice man who kept talking to me in a very calm voice and held my hand to reassure me and that really did help and I never think I thanked him, but I hope he knows how much that meant to have his help.  After the class they texted my uncle throughout the afternoon to check on me to make sure I was ok – such small things are uplifting and I am so thankful to them for that.

Romans 8:28 (NIV) - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.