It’s time!

We go back on the road today, a trip that will take us eventually to the Maritimes, and we’re busy getting ready. Things are packed. We haven’t ticked ‘yelling at each other’ off the list of final preparations yet but I’m sure we’ll manage to get it done at some point. The stress of both making sure we are fully prepared with all we need combined with the worry about accessibility and, of course, the ability to pee when needed during our journey.

I’ve reacted to this ‘leaving’ differently than I have in the past. I always like going out for a bit after work in my power chair just to get some air and to wind down from the work day. It’s also nice, after being in my manual chair, to have real, actual, freedom of movement. But, this time, I’ve chosen for the last three days (3) days to stay in. Once was because we contacted friends about going out for tea and they weren’t able to make it, so seconds later, I was in my housecoat.

Maybe it’s that I’ve burrowed in the the accessibility and predictability of my home. Here I don’t have all the worries that I have about all the other environments that I will call home for a night or two. Maybe I just wanted to really enjoy things I can’t typically do at a hotel, like sit in a tall chair, the low chesterfields are not made for me, or be in a bathroom with the grips set exactly right, or have the right amount of space for my wheelchair to turn when I’m at my desk. Those little things which make home home and which make my disability feel as at home as I do.

But, we’ve got challenges ahead of us, I’m doing, count them 4 new talks on this trip. Two for self advocates and two for staff. I’ve been hunkered down writing them, and now we’ll see how that went. I felt it was time to challenge my brain and, let me tell you, it has been challenged. But that’s all done now.

Today we leave.

We’re packed.

All that’s left is the yelling.