A Little Good News

I have been accused, oddly for an optimist, that I focus too much on the negative in my blog. I'm constantly being told, always by non-disabled people interestingly enough, that there are more good people than there are bad people so I should write more about them. And, though I tire of people telling me what I ought to write, what I oughtn't write, what I should say, what I shouldn't say, words I can use and words I can't (when did writing a personal blog become a committee process?) ... they do have a point.

Yesterday began with breakfast with friends and then Joe and I headed downtown. There were a couple of things we wanted to pick up, a couple of things we wanted to check out, and we figured that around noon we'd go to the theatre and catch whatever is playing. For the whole day it seemed like assholes all took a day off, that maybe they were at a convention or something, and only nice people were out on the streets.

Some nice things that happened ...

1) At the movie theatre we arrived to find people sitting in the wheelchair seats. They saw us and immediately got up and apologized and found other seats. One could quibble that they shouldn't have sat in the wheelchair seats but shush, they moved without complaint.

2) I was driving directly into the path of a fellow talking intensely on the phone, he saw me and we both swerved, me to my left, him to his right, which kept us on a collision course, a couple of swerves later we managed to get it right. We both laughed, I said, 'Thanks for the dance.' He said, 'Next time remember, I like to lead.' Nice.

3) Every time, that's every time I had to try and get by a group standing and talking, someone in the group noticed and got people to move. Everyone did without complaint. It was all smiles day.

4) At breakfast there were two of us to be accommodated, one on a scooter, me in my chair. They moved the chairs and tables about, I stuck out a bit, a friend sat at the end of the table, sticking out a bit - and no one made an issue of it. We simply had breakfast, all comfortable in our seats.

5) We bought Ruby a new parka, all soft pink and Sadie a new sweat suit complete with hoodie and when we brought them up to the counter the clerk made a comment that the two little girls were lucky to be getting gifts from 'men with taste' which I think is a euphemism for 'men who are queer as a three dollar bill' but it was nice to be treated as a couple, despite gender and disability issues, and as having family.

So, all in all it was a good day dealing with nice people. So there. I do write about good things and good people. But I appreciate the prompt, it was surely a nice post to write.