Blink and you miss it.....

My friend from Delaware drove up this weekend and we attached the various safety belts inside the van, hung up the CD holder, worked on my power chair so I could transfer into the van seat and then set out for Mexican food to celebrate.

"Where are we going now?" my friend asked as we left the restaurant.

I drew a blank. Hard to explain that, other than the fact that it's been a while that the wanting of going a place has been followed with the ability to do it. Hard to fathom that suddently I can go anywhere , anytime, that in the blink of an eye, it's all changed.

This is the same friend who taught me how to use a wheelchair from her own wheelchair. She taught me that brakes on a wheelchair aren't used to stop, but applied when you get in and out of the wheelchair. She led me down streets with lousy curbcuts and sidewalks and showed me how to traverse them. When I hesitated, she kept going, glancing over her shoulder, pulling out ahead but staying in sight, setting a pace. "Come on," she said. I had to set aside my fears and follow her to keep up. Not like I could get out of the wheelchair and walk. When I caught up to her, she said "You're getting faster" and pulled out ahead again. Tough love.

We got into the van, deploying the ramp, transferring into our seats. My mind was still blank. I couldn't think of anywhere to go.

She waited. I was navigating a different terrain now, an internal one, one that in some ways was more difficult, one that she understood and knew. It was a full ten minutes after she asked me where we were going that I finally answered her. It took five minutes before I answered her the next time. A minute after that.

And then, suddenly, it hit me. She was setting a pace, then waiting for me.

When we got back home, we said goodbye and she rolled up the ramp into her car. Just as she did after she taught me how to use my wheelchair, she said "I think you're good now."

After she left, I got back in the van and drove somewhere. Didn't think about it much at all.

Kind of happened in the blink of an eye.