Bonnie By The Ounce’s Weblog

J decided, with it being such a wonderfully hot weekend coming up, that we should go to the beach. He’s not from California so any occasion he can get to the beach, he does. I didn’t have the heart to break it to him that people in wheelchairs don’t go to beaches. Wheelchairs aren’t 4-wheel drive vehicles and unless we make special arrangements and rent special chairs and take along a few power pushers or weight lifters, it ain’t gonna happen. For these reasons, I haven’t been on the sand or touched my toe in the ocean since I started using a wheelchair… that is more than 8 years, folks. J didn’t know it had been this long. We started dating just before my surgery, and he adored me fat and using a wheelchair on occasion so I kept him, but he hasn’t been with me long enough to see what limitations I could have because of my weight, the wheelchair or both.

Since I’m up and around much better and longer, J assumed that I could make it the distance from the car to the beach. I didn’t want to disappoint but I did warn that even a short walk in sand might do me in so he should prepare himself for a picnic in the front seat of the car. I think he would have been OK with anything just to get down to the beach on such a wonderful day, picnic in the car or not, but he has such faith in me that I think he believes I can do things before I believe it. I’m glad he does. He is such a good source of support.

He drove us to his favorite beach, with thankfully has the shortest walk from car to water I have ever seen, and I immediately thought “I can do this”. We left my wheelchair in the car, J grabbed all of our supplies including our picnic lunch and we made the most emotional walk of my life so far.

I made it! Without stumbling, without pain, without embarassment, without even having to lean on J…. I made it. If I were an emotional girl who broke down crying at times like these, I would have been crying like a baby.

I don’t think I can express how much this means to me. I use to be a roller skater, spent time at the beach, played volleyball etc. When I first started using a wheelchair, I kissed all of these kind of things goodbye forever. Since I’m non-surgical (but crossing fingers that medicine catches up to my spinal injury) I didn’t think I would be able to do these things again without either a miracle or some major accomodations.

Even with my complaints about the healing from the surgery, not being able to eat certain food or the sometimes inconvenience of life after surgery, I would do this all over again just to be able to take that walk down that beach again. This surgery was the best decision of my life.