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october 17 september 22 august 32 july 24 june 16 may 33 april 31 march 75 february 34 january 41 2008 411 december 61 november 62 october 50 september 49 august 19 july 35 june 13 may 23 april 24 march 18 february 17 january 40 2007 169 december 15 november 15 october 13 september 10 august 22 july 19 june 40 may 10 april 3 march 5 february 5 january 12 2006 16 december 4 october 2 april 5 march 4 february 1 2005 1 november 1 labels 2007 highlights 10 2008 highlights 35 accessibility 14 alzheimers 1 ambridge 2 another day 5 blade runner 4 cerebral palsy 2 clearwire 1 computer woes 4 deep thoughts 2 disabled flustrations 12 disabled parenting 6 disabled parking 3 disabled rights around the globe 10 election 2008 15 eric 1 family 1 family fun 10 gadgets for the disabled 2 getting older 1 jet white 13 jodie s disability 1 joomla 2 ma2 1 mobility 1 motivational 1 my disability 4 my job 4 politics 12 q 1 role models 6 scooters 1 tech 11 vance 7 webdesign 6 webhost woes 3 followers blogger template by blogcrowds witticisms living and laughing with a disability cerebral palsy ordinary life extraordinary circumstances sunday september 13 2015 it s been awhile yes it has been awhile since i ve tended to my blog our son eric graduated high school last year 2014 he has just begun his second year of college even though he is only an hour away and he comes home for school breaks and occasional weekends we have experienced empty nesters syndrome life goes along things slowly change you don t see the change until one day you start thinking about today and what is different now from back however long ago when a child leaves the home it is different when we dropped eric off at college last year i cried when we said goodbye selfish i know my mind was flooded with thoughts bringing eric home from the hospital when he was born crawling on the floor with him t ball baseball basketball school functions scout activities everything we did for eighteen years revolved around him suddenly it s time to step away he doesn t need us anymore well that s how it felt at first as the days and weeks passed and the phone calls and texting increased i realize that he still does need us and always will just in different ways his second year of college has just begun he loves being back at school with his friends i m happy that he is happy back at school when he does come home to see is he is happier to see us life is quieter for us now sometimes we miss having a baseball game to go to but sometimes the quieter life is nice life changes it s better to accept it than to fight it our son is out making his own mark on the world making us very proud seeing the sparkle of the beginning of the new chapter has helped me get my mind off the sadness of seeing the last chapter close posted by troy wittren at 9 05 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday july 20 2014 out and about i had to run to the store this afternoon we ran out of an essential item for then throne room i use to be bolder i was out and about all the time going to the store was no big deal as i get older staying home an going out seems more an more appealing i just don t like the hassle of my disability for myself and for others around me home is a controlled environment the outside world is not i drove to fred meyers in wood village i parked our sprinter van far out in the parking lot i like to have room to run our rear lift and to be able to pull out without backing up people drive crazy through parking lots i saw two vehicles driving opposite ways in the row i was parked in and a third driving perpendicular across the parking spaces there was nearly a three way crash right in front of me i wonder how many parking lot accidents they have there a drawback to parking that far out in the parking lot is having to ride my scooter a good ways through the lot before there is a curb cut to the sidewalk i know when i hear a car running to stop and wait until they back up or until i know they see me it s not always easy to figure that out the car can be running for awhile they are not moving but i can t tell if they seed me i went in the store and grabbed one of the small hand shopping baskets i put it on the floor of my scooter i can get a decent amount of stuff if i get too much as is always the temptation stuff starts falling off the scooter and that is not fun motoring my way down the aisles i get that people need time to study what is on the shelf but please make room for people to get by when i come to the end of aisles i have learned to creep slowly out i have had people run into me with their carts and then look at me like it s my fault i wish stores had mirrors overhead to help with the end of aisle blind spots reaching for stuff from the scooter can be hard i can t reach the higher shelves so i often settle for the stuff i can reach i was reaching for a box of waffles my breakfast of champions a lady saw me reaching in vain she came over and reached them for me so so nice lot s of people are nice that way i hate depending on the kindness of strangers but sometimes i need call down the independent bulldog inside of me and accept the kindness i went to check out and put everything up on the conveyor belt i was having trouble reaching to swipe my debit card so i handed it to the clerk and she swiped it for me i was able to punch in my code today but sometimes i need to ask for help with that as well boring stuff perhaps getting older i am 50 still working full time so that gets me out of the house as well as going to my son s baseball games eric goes away to college in a month another chapter it s just that i can foresee a day when i m not out and about much and that appeals to me more and more posted by troy wittren at 9 06 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday july 19 2014 today the sidewalk was blocked and we were bummed jodie and i are baseball parents we try to make every game that our son eric plays today we had a double header at madison eric played summer ball for them a couple years ago the only curb cut is on the corner of 82nd and ne thompson we travel the street down to the busy corner then ride the sidewalk back to the skinny gate and bumpy grass trail that goes to the baseball field today the sidewalk was blocked and we were bummed i m not good with my phone camera but here are some shots i took today i rode my scooter to the parking lot above no way in there this is the only ramp near the baseball field the sidewalk was blocked no curb cut near the gate we sat in the street watching the game from the outfield fence people kept coming by to check on us they missed having us with them to cheer the boys on that made us feel good accessibility gets a lot of lip service but it is not understood until you deal with it yourself or with a loved one you are assisting for some of us accessibility or finding a way around barriers is a way of life posted by troy wittren at 11 14 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday april 14 2014 it s not the kite i was not familiar with pharrell until i saw him on tv a couple times recently i m not normally dialed into his style of hip hop i m an old fart classic rock old country 70 s and 80 s pharrell s song happy is seriously addictive as i write this i am dialed into 24hoursofhappy the words of wisdom that pharrell shared on cbs sunday morning struck a cord in me that needed striking success making it fulfillment if you have made it so my words might not resonate with you me i always have had a feeling that i need to obtain a level of success that i never quite reach there is something great i need to do but i don t know if i will ever do it or even figure out what it is ok i am a type a wannabe trapped in a type b body probably the worst of my disabilities reporter anthony mason tries to get pharrell to focus on his success now that he has made it will he repeat his success he does not see it that way rather pharrell focuses on being grateful for every single person who has impacted his life to bring him to this success he sees that the stars have aligned for his current success and that does not happen for everyone and it may never happen again for him pharrell said in the interview it s not all you it can t be all you just like you need air to fly a kite it s not the kite it s the air thinking about my own life seeking success trying to make the stars align is like chasing a mirage i ll never get there because it s not a destination realizing the people in my life jodie eric my family and friends my teachers and my mentors it s all the air we are all kites for ourselves and part of the air for those around us kites do not soar without air our focus should be set on being the best air we can be for those around us happiness is a journey not a destination it s not the kite posted by troy wittren at 10 16 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday april 07 2014 changes sigh i took a nasty fall in my bedroom ramming my chest in the corner of the hope chest i think i bruised some ribs my doctor felt all around nothing appeared broken but i had a lot of pain for several weeks jodie told the doctor i have been falling more yes i had to agree my doctor referred me to a specialist who knows more about figuring out such things he referred me to physical therapy my walking gait has always been on the wild side i had braces as a kid until a doctor in california told my parents that my braces were not correcting anything that they were really more of a hindrance when i finished college and was still living in corvallis i tried braces again afo s ankle foot orthotic my doctor and therapist were both very concerned with my ankle movement telling me that if i ever rolled my ankle that my recovery could take a long time and my ability to walk could be in jeopardy at the time i was learning how to drive and the afo s seemed to be getting in the way i went and saw the therapist last december she pretty much freaked out as she watched the motions of my feet and legs as i walk afo s for sure considering that i am getting older and that i want to stay as mobile as i can for as long as i can i agreed life is different for me now with the afo s instead of slipping on my shoes and tying them i put on the plastic ankle piece then i slide my foot into a plastic piece that goes from my toes up to the top of my calf there is a velcro strap that i need to thread through a metal thing i takes me time then i shove my braced foot into my size 11 4e new balance 555 s fifteen to 20 minutes depending how my involuntary motions are doing i do walk better now but it is harder for me to free walk i use my walker more it seems like using a walker is portrayed negatively in our society like giving in to your weakness i am starting to view my walker more like a pair of glasses a tool that i need to function standing up from a sitting position is harder because i am using different muscles i feel more unstable walking around the van to help jodie up and down the lift i am using my walker more to help me everything takes more time and energy some things jodie is helping me do like taking recycles out to the garage she also lets me use her powerchair as a walker with her driving it real slow she likes that she can do more for me i try to see it that way but i feel bad that some of my abilities are slipping away sigh posted by troy wittren at 10 17 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday march 22 2014 my glasses broke can i see your insurance card jodie was washing my eyeglasses yesterday morning before work as she was drying them they snapped into two pieces no biggy it would have happened to me just as easy these were bifocals that broke i found some old single lens glasses that i dug out so that i can see to drive today i took my broken glasses to my eye doctor s shop we like that the shop has saturday hours i ve been going to him for 15 years or so jodie has gone to him since she was in high school dr clay has done a lot for her very unique sight issues jodie stayed in the van one less time for me to run out lift i got my walker out jodie handed me the baggy with my broken glasses i walked into the shop a lady from behind the reception desk helped me with the second door she said is someone coming in with you it surprised me and irritated me i thought does someone need to come in with me but i said no i gave her the baggy with my broken glasses and i asked can you fix these her answer was no not a huge surprise she did have a card for a place that could weld them together i am overdue an eye exam and new set of glasses with my insurance i asked for an appointment wit dr clay then i got the look your disabled so you must be on medicare she asked can i see your insurance card she took it to the computer and ran my card she found out wow he really does have insurance and he is a customer here she asked me if was an emergency kind of evident i thought but easy going guy that i am i said not really so a week from monday i have an eye appointment with dr clay i wonder if i should take jodie with me in case i need to fill out paperwork being disabled sucks sometimes no i didn t just say that honestly i am well adjusted posted by troy wittren at 9 16 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday february 17 2014 one thing i can do twenty five years ago a group of friends gathered with me at plush pippin in beaverton a pie shop seemed a fitting place to celebrate my 25th birthday please don t do the math life really was not going my way at the time college was a couple years behind me i worked six months as an assistant editor with world christian magazine due to a lack of funds both my own and the magazine s i had to quit and move home no job no girlfriend i had a lot of reasons to be bummed but i wasn t i had faith in god and i had my friends that night at the pie shop i asked my friends to give my their definition of reality why the most honest answer is i don t know maybe i was looking at life where i had been where i was where i was going i have always lived within the narrative that runs in my head maybe i felt the need to be pulled out of that narrative for a moment troy s had the best answer okay it s the only one i remember reality is when what you think you know equals what you know in the months that followed i began volunteering for the department of human services in hillsboro working on a lotus 123 spreadsheet to track volunteer hours also i met up with jodie a classmate from where i spent my early elementary school days we attended holladay center in portland a school for the disabled we had both been mainstreamed in separate directions when i saw her leading a support group for the disabled...