by ST, Oct 2024
My Birthday
This year for my birthday I took a trip to Prosser WA for their States Day Celebration, partly as a treat for myself, partly to gather content for my Travel site. Birthday gifts: how that came about and how it all worked out.
(My travel site: https://www.travelpacificnw.com/destinations-in-the-pacific-northwest.html )
As happens many years, my birthday was on Labor Day, which has metaphorical significance at least.
In order to be in Prosser for the beginning of the Celebration, I decided to stay over the night before. It seemed a gift that I was able to work that out. That evening I was able to reconnoiter parking and places I wanted to explore around town, and even take some photos for my site before the crowds, which also seemed gifts to me.
It was 100 degrees in Prosser, and on the way over. But the next day, the day of the parade and other events, and the day I’d be wandering about town in my wheelchair taking more pictures, the sky was overcast and the temperature in the mid 70s. What a great gift! The parade was fun: a highlight was the dancing horses. Another was the chance to chat with a local to find out something about the history of the celebration.
When I loaded into my vehicle to return home, I discovered that sometime during the day my foot had fallen off the footrest of the electric wheelchair, and the chair had chewed right through my shoe into my toes. Thus was the end of a delightful birthday! As I felt unable to cope with the little disaster on my own, I just drove back home. Even took some pictures along the way.
Once home I did what I could think to do (being maybe a bit in shock) to clean the injury, and called my sister to cry on her shoulder. She and her husband determined to drop all they had going on in their life and drive up from the southern Oregon coast the next day–a 5-7 hour drive, depending on Portland traffic. Her birth as my younger sister has been a gift to me, as well as the person she has chosen to be. She ended up staying 3 weeks, helping me and making sure I got the medical attention I needed at last, such as wound care and home health nursing. It was a dangerous wound for a diabetic paraplegic in both depth and locatio–in my extremities.
What a gift that was for me, not to have to face the troubles, frustration, care, and worry on my own! And while she stayed, we were able to do some fun things together, too–a seldom realized opportunity/gift.
My Birth Day
My mother labored to bring me into a conjugal, extended, and family lineage that gave me a sense of belonging, of being part of a higher purpose, a sense of direction and values: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, to begin with. My parents labored to provide physical necessities, and the necessities of the soul–such as music, education & ethics, love & laughter. Of course our lives had challenges. We were not perfect, nor were they perfect. In life we suffered pains and hurts and difficulties–yet not as bad as some. These, too, have been gifts that developed who we are, who I am.
When my life suddenly jumped track due to a car accident (cause of my paraplegia) the year I turned 30, there were gifts in that as well. My mom, the driver, only suffered minor injuries, and my 4 year old daughter none. These were deeply felt gifts. And no one else was involved in the accident. Yet people were there right away to lift the car off me, and first responders were there quickly to respond.
I could have been injured far worse, or died (as well as my mom and daughter). Every other patient in the hospital with spinal cord injury when I was there, was quadriplegic. If I or my mom had been so afflicted, we could not have lived on our own, and there are much more serious health issues for quadriplegics. I knew at the scene of the accident that I was paralyzed, but felt the reassurance to my heart and mind, “This is something you can deal with”. Even though I knew that was naive, not knowing what that would entail, I knew it was important to let myself take comfort in that reassurance. I was gifted not to be plagued by “If only . . .” or, “Why me?” It has been a gift that I have not become bitter over it. Maybe that’s a gift I gave myself, but I think it not from myself alone.
An anecdote that I find humorous is when at the scene of the accident they kept asking me how old I was. Since I have a hard time remembering my age, I had decided at my previous birthday that I would say I was 30 both in the year I would turn 30, and the year I would be 30. So though I would not be 30 for a couple months, I said I was 30. They asked me so many times, I thought, “Why don’t you just write it down?” I didn’t realize until much later, in the hospital, that they were checking for brain injury!
This paraplegia, as I suppose all in life, has been a learning experience. It has been a gift to realize that this is a learning experience, despite and because of the challenges & frustrations it has brought. I have realized that the new life it has given me is not only for what I could learn, but the opportunity, even the responsibility, to be an influence in helping others through whatever challenges they might face, because they see me facing my most obvious one. A new life doesn’t necessarily mean an easier or trouble free life. But by our choices, can become one of more profound meaning and purpose. Maybe not all accidents are accidental.
My Daughter’s Birth
When I gave birth to my (first, last, most charming, beautiful, talented/gifted/intelligent, and only) daughter, she gave life to my life: a powerful purpose, joy, and reason to live. Her love and acceptance, despite my faults (of which she knows better than anyone but God) means more to me than anything or anyone (other than God’s love, mercy/forgiveness, and acceptance–now and forever).
Day of Rebirth
While being “born again” was a crucial decision I once made, every year, every week, every day dawns the birth of a new beginning to my being, and the gift that God gives to me through the gift of His Son–“For God so loved the world [and me!] that He gave His only Begotten Son . . .” The gift of that sacred Birth Day we celebrate with gift giving at Christmas. We celebrate it at Easter, and every day. It gives me Hope, Faith, and Love of/for God. It gives us reason/His expectation to love His children just as I want others to love, honor, respect, treat with kindness my daughter, and through her, the grand children that have been so great a gift to me.
Beside that great gift, are all the tender mercies He gives to me that fill my heart with joy and consolation. Beside daily bread & wherewithal, He has gifted me a beautiful earthly home & garden, and the promise of an even more beautiful heavenly home–and indeed, where His love is, is a heavenly home, no matter in this life or the next. Then we will be born into a never ending life of Joy & Peace, washed and clean, with no more tears.
Much more could be said, but my conclusion is that Birth Day Gifts are wondrous to unwrap.
My Stories 