A True Gift

As you know, I have to overcome many obstacles in my life and I am ok with this because I believe it makes me a stronger person.  I have received a lot of wonderful Hanukkah gifts thanks to my family and friends but the ability to have my freedom back is an amazing gift.  I am used to not being able to brush my hair or having to have someone give me a shower and read something to me because it is too small.  These are all things that I have either come to accept or are just a part of me and I know no difference.  However not having my power wheelchair, my source of independence, work in the way it should was beginning to drive me crazy.  Not only that but I knew that once the wheelchair company agreed to take my chair, a degree of my independence would be taken away.  This time not for something fun like a vacation.  That is another thing I have learned to accept because it is too risky to take on an airplane.  Now I am not saying that my wheelchair has never broke because that isn’t true.  I am just saying that because it went out of state I wasn’t sure when I would be getting it back.  I am lucky that during this time I was able to switch back and forth between a manual chair and an old power chair because if I sit in the power one too long my back starts to hurt. Thanks to my mom’s persistence, I was able to get my chair back in one piece and it just so happened I got it on the last night of Hanukkah!  I couldn’t have asked for a better present!  Thank you mom! 

I am free! 

-Jessi

Ps.  Sorry I haven’t decided on names for the frogs yet!  

A way to wrap up the year.

A few weeks ago, when I was down in the dumps worried about how I was going to complete my internship hours for this semester and worried about what i was going to do for next year, I turned on the TV and watched an extreme home makeover episode about a boy who went through chemo therapy and is in remission.  When he found out that he had cancer he was told that his blood type was B+ and his motto and foundation were born.  Now he has a foundation entitled "B+" and since that episode it has encouraged me to push on through the end of the semester and I thought if he can do it so can I.  So my message to you as this year comes to a close is we have a lot to look forward to in 2010 and remember to stay positive or in case of Cameron, the boy in the episode, B+. 

Roommate Questions

A lot of you have been asking me "What is your status with your roommate?  Do you want a roommate?" or some people have been telling me "It's smart to get another roommate" and my response to that question is sometimes it gets lonely to not have another roommate around and I'm sure it puts a lot of pressure on my parents at the same time but for right now, with me trying to figure out what I'm going to do next year, completing my classes for this year, making sure that I spend enough time with my family and friends, it doesn't seem like it would fit in my schedule, at least not to have somebody with a disability.  I like to make my own schedule and my own decisions even though sometimes I do miss Norine.  So as you can tell, there is no straight answer to how I feel but right now I am content if my parents are OK with it.  

On the brighter side I am happy to say that thanks to Brian and Justin I am the proud owner of 2 frogs.  Yes I not only live in an apartment now, but I have pets of my very own.  Something I have wanted since I moved in.  However, right now they are nameless and I believe no living thing should go nameless so I am having a contest to see what names I like the best.  The winner will win something very frog-a-licious.  Email me or send me a post with your ideas.  Have fun and the frogs and I say thank you in advance.  Happy holidays and as you can tell I'm having fun already!  Ribbet Ribbet, Love Jess