Saturday December 17, 2005

I visited my big green bin today. It doubles as a living room table but right now it means a lot more to me. Me reaching into that bin was another step in getting my life back.

Before I get all poetic and confusing, let me explain. The big green bin is a storage bin that I use as a coffee table but also as storage (duh). While I was recuperating from surgery, mom and I went through all my clothes and got rid of the stuff I just don’t like anymore and kept a bunch of stuff that I still like but I outgrew (outgrowing your clothes is only cute when you’re an infant, by the way). The thought is that I can shrink my way back through some of those clothes. Well, it’s happened. Just a little bit, but I wore my first item today from the bin. What’s cool is, it’s something I’ve never been able to wear before.

My company buys us shirts and sweaters that have the company name on them throughout the year as gifts. The coat, which I got in two sizes bigger than my shirt size, has been the only thing that I’ve been able to wear EVER. Two years ago they gave us a really pretty eggplant colored sweater with cream lettering and I think I wore it once if at all. I don’t think I’ve ever worn it though. Anyways, not only does it fit, but it’s a little roomy on me! Of course nothing else fits but I wasn’t upset. I know that I’m losing and I also know that different designers cut items different ways. The sweater, for example, is from Lands End, which is a company that knows nothing about plus-sized clothing. Just because you slap a 3x on the label and make it bigger doesn’t mean it’s going to fit a person who wears a 3x size shirt!

Anyways, I was excited about this. It’s always frustrated me to have all these really nice, embroidered shirts in my closet that never fit me.

All this has got me thinking about other stuff that I’d like to do again. I’ve never really done that because it seemed pointless to sit around and think about stuff that I couldn’t do. I’m used to having limitations because of the Spina Bifida so I’m used to simply accepting them, not having self pity.

Anyways, here’s my list of stuff I want to either do again or do for the first time in my life:

• Kanski (water ski with a chair, used to do this all the time)
• Take a horse-drawn carriage ride (never done this)
• Horseback ride (used to do this all the time)
• Go for a trip on a plane (done this before, I want to return to DC so I can enjoy the trip better)
• Get a new wheelchair (My current one is eight inches wider in the seat than my first chair)
• Parasail (I might have to get drunk for this, which is something I’ve never really done before either)
• Wear jeans again (I love cotton knit but I miss denim)
• Go to an amusement park (been there done that, still won’t do rollercoasters but raging rapids here I come)

There’s more but that’s all I can think of now.

Jamie

PS Have I mentioned yet that my new hairstyle goes BOOOINNGGGG

2 comments / Add your comment below

  1. so if you go to an amusement park are you going to bring me so we can go to the front of all the lines? 🙂

  2. I heard they don’t do that any more! It’s a different line, but you still have to wait. From what I’ve heard, people were taking advantage of it by going in wheelchairs when they didn’t need to do it. The idiots ruin it for us man! Jamie

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