Today , my family actually managed an outing to an amusement park. For a quote unquote " normal" family, this is no big deal. For us , it was bordering on unattainable. As I have mentioned before , my family consists of 3 people, myself, my five year old daughter with the ADD and Creepy tendencies , and my wonderful husband Bill, who is 65 , with crippling arthritis and vertigo among other things. Did I mention that I am ( at least for the time being ) morbidly obese ? I also just quit smoking , have asthma , and also have a nasty case of arthritis and am officially in the worst shape I have EVER been in in my life ! So for the two of us , amusement park = hell on Earth , but for Wednesday , it would be more fun than she could ever imagine . Some things were going to have to happen if we were going to do this thing ;
Wednesday was going to need some clear expectations and rules.
Bill was going to have to acquiesce to using a wheelchair.
I was going to need an extra set of hands.
As luck would have it , a friend of mine had a convention to go to and needed us to keep her 12 year old at our place for the week . I seized the opportunity . 12 year olds are wonderful things indeed ! Quite helpful, or at least this one is ! Ellen is a dear ! And Wednesday Adores her !
Your probably wondering why all this fuss over a simple day at the park ? Well, let me elaborate. I cannot hold Wednesdays hand AND push Bills wheelchair at the same time . It just doesn't work . Hence the extra pair of hands , they hold Wednesday's . The alternative would have been to take Wednesday by myself , but that would require leaving Bill home alone 45 minutes away from where we were , which is neither kind or safe. Hhis feelings would have been hurt dreadfully, and when you love someone, the last thing you want to do is hurt their feelings.
When we got to the park, I headed us towards the kiddie area where they have a mini version of their big wooden roller coaster . Ellen took Wednesday on it first , and we quickly discovered that even though she's evil kinevel at home, she does not really care for thrill rides big or small , which surprised us . There went my dreams of us riding the big woodie together :-( Ellen came in handy again by taking W. on the spinny rides that make me puke , which apparently she loves ? This gave me and Bill a time out . The other side of this trip was that for it to work, and us to be able to do it as a family , I was going to have to push my 170lbs husband up and down every hill in the July heat while hollering at two children . This is not an easy task for a morbidly obese arthritic asthmatic , but the love I have for my family stoked my willpower and that and my determination to make it a great day , made it a great day !
We're there things I wanted to do but didn't get to ? Yes. But everyone else experienced that at least once too.
Did Bill get to ride anything ? Yes he did , not a whole lot. But enough to make him giddy happy :-)
Did Wednesday have a good time ? By her standards, I think she did .
As for me , we ended up staying two hours longer than we planned . After 6 hours of pushing the wheelchair and managing my tribe in extreme circumstances I am exhausted , but its the good kind of exhausted . The happy kind . I know we managed , ( with some degree of difficulty) to make some great family memories today . And the pictures will last a lifetime ! As will the memories. That said, I am waiting at least another five years before I try that again ! This time wouldn't have been possible without Ellen, and love . My love for my family . It enables me to do stupid things , crazy stupid things, but with great love . Things like pushing a grown person all over an amusement park for six hours because you love him too much to leave him behind . I will admit , there was one point when his Lasix kicked in and we had to find a bathroom quick so I kicked it into high gear and by the time we got there I was afraid I was going to have a stroke for a minute ! But I got over it and it looks like the good lord is going to let me live after all ! When it was all said and done everybody got to do enough to make them happy, myself included . And we made a memory , and that's what counts. Not the fact that I sweated through my clothes and felt like I was going to die for a minute .
I truly believe that love , when harnessed can be a kind of superpower. It is my superpower. It's what enables me to get up everyday and work my ass off for my family without complaining, what enables me to read five bedtime stories a night when I'm beyond exhausted . It allows me to get through days like today, and to the sweet reward that lays on the other side , family time and precious memories !
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