Days Off Are Exhausting

This week is a week of travel and lecturing. I'll be teaching both people with disabilities how to be safe and trainers to train people with disabilities in the skills of safety. Luckily we are staying at a hotel that's convenient for the whole lot of us to get together. Mike along with Ruby and Sadie and Joseph and the two of us gathered for food, for movies, for chatter, for swimming, for stuff that families do. Marissa joined on the phone, having to work this holiday, so she wasn't left too far behind.

Let's see, here's how it went.

We went to have lunch at a place that the teenager loves.

We went to a movie chosen by a four year old.

We played toss the ball with a toddler who thought dropping the ball was way more fun than catching it.

We did stuff that we wouldn't have chosen to do otherwise. We watched a teen throw back a meal in gusto. We listened to a four year old recount dialogue as spoken by an animated pink flamingo. We bent over and over and over again to pick up a ball that was dropped in laughter. All stuff we would normally never have done on a holiday Monday.

And ... loved every minute of it.

I know that they all did stuff that they normally don't do either. Ruby pushed the wheelchair. Joseph kept pace and opened doors. Sadie flung wheelchair petals around and loved the clanging sound. I know that they don't look for ramps, or push door buttons, or steer wheelchairs through narrow doors on a typical day.

And ... I think they loved every minute of it.

That's family. Real family. A family where old guys in wheelchairs adapt for teenagers with big appetites. A family where adaption and acceptance makes love accessible to all. No curb cuts needed for these hearts. They were designed, like all hearts are, with accessibility in mind.

And ... we all loved having the day in each person's own particular way, at least some of the time.

It's enough.