by Kate | Dec 18, 2020 | Chronic healing, Disability, monsters
December creeps on, its short days contributing to my dark mood. Shadowed, I am sure, by the pandemic and lack of festivities that result. (It seems inappropriate to celebrate with 300,000 dead in this country alone.) I’m also recognizing the emotional whiplash I...
by Kate | Aug 5, 2020 | Chronic healing, chronic illness, Creativity, Disability, kind promises
This month’s kind promise is “I will reinvent whimsically.” This promise makes me smile and brings me a lift of energy. Just what I need in these pandemic-influenced times. Disability is the mother of invention. Illness means my body works differently than most bodies...
by Kate | Jan 17, 2018 | Disability, joy
We are in the bleak midwinter in Minnesota. The air temperature outside has been in the single digits (Fahrenheit). Personally, I’ve been dealing with additional losses: more MS -induced disability and the death of our dog, Cocoa, who kept me company for 15 years....
by Kate | Jan 9, 2018 | chronic illness, Disability, joy
This month’s promise is to “live joyfully for no apparent reason.” Lately, I’ve been thinking about joy as a flotation device. I have been sad because my left arm and hand have gotten weaker and less responsive. Often, I am unable to drive my wheelchair. Because of...
by Kate | Nov 9, 2017 | Chronic healing, chronic illness, Disability, kind promises, Love, Vulnerability
As someone with significant disabilities, I worry that I am a burden on people around me. I tell myself monster-stories about how much better the lives of my loved ones would be if they didn’t have to sacrifice on my behalf. I imagine that such thoughts are noble,...
by Kate | Sep 5, 2017 | Advocacy, Disability, kind promises, Vulnerability, Weakness
In the US of A, we value independence. We planted the idea with our revolutionary roots, nurtured it through immigrations and cowboys and have carried it into the 21st-century with our cell phones – connected and disconnected simultaneously. The urge to go it alone is...
