I am sitting on my bed, listening to music through my laptop and trying to figure out the words on how to blog about two days of getting away from not your hometown, but also your family. I feel blessed to have people who don’t mind watching over somebody with a disability, like me. My mom has a friend at her work, and they’ve been friends since she started there. I don’t know what started the friendship but it’s been interesting. I have been around her a few times before I was around her husband and kids. When she became pregnant with her youngest, my mom and I were invited to the baby shower. I hadn’t been to one in a couple of years and it was fun! When the baby arrived, we went out to visit them and that was the first time I met her husband. They came out to my sister’s graduation party and brought the older kids with them. That was the first time I was around them and that was also the first time I had been around kids in a few years. Earlier this year, they’ve been coming over to the house and I’ve even stayed at theirs for a couple of years. I had always enjoyed being around them because I was treated like a normal person, even with kids under the age of ten that’s interesting!
You’ve heard me talk about how I really hate getting told news that I’m going somewhere, because nine times out of ten it never happens. I’ve just learned to accept that part of life. So after that first time I went over to their house I didn’t think it would actually happen again. Nothing against them or my parents, but life has its way of playing tricks on me. I spent a good fourteen hours there at their house. This time the kids knew how I was going to treat them and I thought I wouldn’t be so naïve. Wishful thinking. My parents were supposed to go to this motorcycle thing over the weekend but my dad has been feeling a little under the weather this past week, so I thought that not only their plans would be smashed but so would mine. Even though I told my mom that I didn’t care if they didn’t go, I was still going there anyways. Which is what happened! I have spent the last few weeks figuring out what I wanted to take with me because I was told that I was allowed to bring whatever I wanted. I wanted to little arts and crafts projects with the kids. They were small enough to be interested in anything, but smart enough to use markers. Katie, I knew would love the projects but I was stumped with little Aiden though.
I was the older sister to a younger sister. I never had brothers, even though back in school I had considered a few of my guy friends “brothers” because that’s how I expected brothers to act around me. They would tease and protect me. Aiden is still pretty young, but he still relies on his older sister to comfort him (even if she got him in trouble!) so I tried to figure out things that he could do too! That’s why I thought I’d bring this small boxes along. My papaw kind of collects these old Veleeta boxes and I knew I’d have enough in case they had one of their neighbor friends over so they could join us too! Well, mom only brought two and thankfully I didn’t need anymore but he only decorated his box with the small amount of stickers he liked. I had plans on getting him some boy-ish stickers earlier this week but I totally forgot about it and when he was in the middle of looking at the markers, he had said that I didn’t have any boy stickers. My heart broke in heart. I felt bad for him but next time I’ll have him in mind and I’ll figure out something out that both will enjoy. Katie never really complained about the boxes or anything. She was just happy that I brought different colors of nail polishes with me.
The last time I was over there. Katie REALLY wanted her nails painted. So I told her mom that I’d do them if she wanted me to, well she let me and I practically made a mess on both of her hands getting the polish on the nails. Thank god for Q-Tips! That same day she asked me if she could do my nails and I had told her that maybe later on in the day she could, but then my visit was cut short and again I felt awful! So once as my mom told me about this visit I had told myself that I needed a new coat of paint on my toes. She had tried to paint her nails herself Friday afternoon, but she couldn’t figure out what color she wanted. So she kept wiping it off every time she went to dap it on her nails. She finally let me do her nails and we used a purple (one coat) and a baby blue glitter polish (three coats) and she was happy! However, she wasn’t going to be happy if I left that house without any paint on my toes. I chose a neon orange (two coats) and the baby blue glitter polish (two coats) too. To watch her lean down to see every corner of my toes to make sure she didn’t make a mess on the outside of my feet was too adorable! Everybody seems to love them and so do I!
Something I wanted to do was split my time with each kid. Kristen and Casey explained to the kids that I was an adult and that were to listen to what I said. This was something I had wished I was still a kid that way I wouldn’t feel so bad for yelling at each one whenever they did something bad. I’m not good at being the enforcer. Friday night the kids wanted to be near me, which I was fine with, but I could see how they were smothering me at times. I’m used to being by myself on a couch and having two little kids right by me was new to me, but cute too! Maci being a baby still, I was fine with her being close to me. The fact that she walked over my body like she did with her older siblings was good with me. In a way in her eyes, I was just another person. She was pretty fascinated with my arms and legs though. The kid’s got one heck of a grip on her, she kept wanting to pinch my skin and toes. Perfect payback from everybody that I have squeezed their fingers to the point that they turn white. I enjoyed making faces at her to make her laugh and smile. She’s in her walking stage–she literally skipped crawling completely and went into walking in two weeks–she used my feet and side of my wheelchair to help her stand up. She was a happy baby.
After the first time of going over to their house, we took my powered wheelchair. My mom has went over to their house before that visit and she told me that they have one huge step before getting to the house. So when we took my chair, it took three people just to it inside and out. To make things a little easier, my mom decided the first time I try out my new push wheelchair we solely got for when I went over to my nana’s, we took that over. Of course my dad had to put it together Friday morning before we went over there and I’m happy to say that not only is it comfortable (arm rest is awesome!) it’s REALLY light too! It only took two people to lift it in and out. I am just learning how to navigate around in it because since its so new it’s got this feeling that if I make one sudden move or drop that the seat could cave in and my butt could just fall right down onto the floor! That would not be pretty! I’ve also never moved myself around in a push wheelchair with hardwood floors either, which is what they’re entire house had and that was pretty tricky especially since I kept freaking out Kristen every time I moved in it.
I think the little getaway was a success, some minor things that could’ve been different, but can’t take them back now. All I can do is learn for the next visit. Hopefully, we’ll all be good and steady by then. I hope you are enjoying your weekend if you’re at home or away. Just make it a good one!
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