...I became paralyzed from my waist down in 2004 but life is good and I am blessed. I love and am loved which is more important than anything else.The first night that I lay in emergency triage I was in a room with 20 other patients. There was a lady 2 beds away from me who was drunk and had been beaten badly. About 2:00 a.m. the doctor came in and told her that she checked out okay and that she could go home if she would call someone to come and pick her up. I could hear them talking. She said, "Who am I going to call, the one who did this to me?" The doctor asked, "Don't you have any other options?" The lady replied, "Doctor, I only have 2 options, one is to live and one is to die." I laid there knowing that even if I was paralyzed the rest of my life that I had a safe home to go to and people who loved me. I prayed for that lady and still do, and thanked God for the "peace that passeth all understanding" that he put in my heart that first night of the new chapter of my life as a paraplegic.Prior to this chapter I had worked in a factory for 25 years, Essex/Harman-Motive/Harman-Becker. I made the decision to leave when I had the opportunity and I thank God everyday that I spent my last 2 walking years out of that factory. I have lots of great memories and friends from the time that I spent there but life began when I got out of there and began to follow my own dreams. Little did I know that I was only going to "walk" my new path for 2 years.God always kept His hand on me. There were several times when I'd put my fingers in my ears and try to go my own way and be something other than the person that my mom tried hard to raise me to be. I told someone the other day, when we were talking about being 20 again that I'd rather be right where I am, right now, in this chair, and 57 years old than to be 20 again and be that stupid!!! It took me until about 32 or so to start getting it together and then I still went through a second childhood well into my 40's.I had always dreamed since I was a little girl of walking on a beach and picking up shells. I was obsessed with Hawaii as I'm sure that Stevie and Susie can attest to because I made them dress up like native Hawaiians one year for Halloween. Elvis and Blue Hawaii obviously had a big impact on me. Anyway, 3 months before I became paralyzed I went to Texas to spend a week with my best friend, Debbie. The morning that we planned to drive down to Corpus Cristi it was kind of gray and drizzly but we decided to go anyway. When we got there the clouds were all silvery and billowy. I was amazed at the sand between my toes. It was like silk, not gritty like sand in a sandbox. There were the most beautiful turquoise jellyfish that had washed up on the beach. I'm sure that she wasn't nearly as impressed with the sights as I was because she lived near the ocean in St. Pete for a while. As I walked on that beach and picked up tiny shells and keepsakes, little did I know that was the last opportunity that I'd have as long as I lived to "walk" on a beach and pick up shells. God and my best friend saw to it that I got my heart's desire before it was too late.Not sure how He felt about our visit to Hippy Hollow. (Just Google it) Someday when I get my pics together and you see a picture of me and my best friend sitting on a rock, smiling and looking directly into the camera you'll know that the young man behind the camera was NAKED!!!I really do miss going for midnight drives in my '69 Ford pick-up and just listening to music but other than that life's all good!..
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