6

"Could you do me a favour, could you write a blog that has 5 or 6 things about you that have nothing to do with your disability or your work with disabled people ... just some facts." This letter comes from a woman who says that she reads Fat and "I just can't get a picture of you in my head, I just have an image of a one-dimensional person who has really limited his life. That image makes me very sad."

Well, we can't have you sad. So, I'll do that ... kind of reluctantly. While I figure its my job and my mission to look at disability, to talk about what I think, notice and learn - getting away from that into more private areas is a tad more uncomfortable for me. But here goes:

Fact One: I can cook without a recipe. Joe's a great cook but he has to follow a recipe. When we want something to eat, if we're just winging it, it's up to me. I can look in the fridge, see the food that's there, and come up with a recipe on the spot. This has led to us having family meals that are uniquely our own. Vegetarian Open Faced Sandwiches, Cabbage Roll Casserole, Mexican Stuffed Canaloni - all are home grown recipes that we now have often. It's fun inventing new combinations of food. I love cooking for others - it's, to me, kind of a spiritual thing.

Fact Two: My obsession with tea had reached the point that, on this trip (I'm sitting in a hotel in Framingham right now) I made my own tea bags. That's right. I bought empty tea bags, got a special spoon for measuring tea into tea bags and then sat at home and filled the bags with my favourite loose tea. I then packed them carefully in a small container and worried that when we crossed the border I'd have to explain little white bags of "yeah right it's tea" to a border guard.

Fact Three: I have a sense of humour that was forged in grade three and has remained there. I find burping funny and fart jokes - they are the best. I remember saying to someone that I thought a burp was just an uppity fart and getting a look that was even funnier than the line. That being said, I don't like slapstick comedy and never laugh at it. I find words funnier than silly faces, silly walks and silly pratfalls.

Fact Four: Though Joe and I have yet to find a church home in Barrie, my faith is deeply important to me. I can't imagine, for me, a life without prayer, a life without faith. It's true that I'm often really critical of the sin/disability connection - and the 'let me heal you' kind of faith, but that's not faith that's prejudice. I'm talking about faith as a bedrock part of personality, and an almost unconcious set of practices throughout the day.

Fact Five: Sometimes I complain about getting tired of it, but I do like being on the road. Staying in hotels, eating restaurant food aren't the greatest, but meeting people, doing presentations, seeing how things are done in other places - that's so cool. I'm up and eager to go to Seven Hills where I will be presenting for the next three days. I'm doing a series of classes for their staff. What a kick. So I look forward to each and every trip and each and every training that I do.

Fact Six: I have always thought that the guys who work in the produce section of grocery stores are better looking that the guys who work in the meat department. Could someone explain that to me?

Well, now there was an entirely frivolous blog. I hope that you are no longer sad and that I am as well rounded in your mind as I am in real life. I had got up this morning wanting to write a blog about three families I saw yesterday on our 10 hour drive - but your plea caught me when I checked emails this morning. And, well, I live to serve.