New York by Wheelchair

Flickr image by man pikin

Just back from the promised trip to New York for my high school graduate niece--previous post 6/5.  We had a great time.  Our hotel, Four Points Sheraton Midtown Times Square lived up to its promise of a wheelchair accessible room with roll in shower.  We were within easy walking distance to great restaurants and Times Square and the theatre district and Rockerfeller Center.   New York isn't great for wheelchair accessibility, especially restaurants and some shopping.  Nice people helped us into the restaurants, many of which had a step into them.  Ashley uses a manual wheelchair.  It would have been a lot harder for someone in a motorized wheelchair.
The highlight of the trip was a guided tour by Family In New York.  I found it on the internet and we had a big, tasty bite of the Big Apple.  We especially enjoyed Central Park and the Staten Island Ferry, but we were out for a full nine hours.  As a bonus, we learned how to get around by subway, bus, and cab.
And where did we go?  Greenwich Village for one.  Do you know what's on the corner of Bedford and Grove in Greenwich Village?  I didn't have a clue, but Ashley knew--the apartment building featured in the Friends TV series.  We saw it and explored Washington Square Park--another Friends haunt--on a sunny, Sunday evening when we could even imagine ourselves living in New York.
Ashley and I were amused because I'm usually mistaken for her grandmother, but on this trip I was twice identified as 'Mom'.  Either she's looking older or I'm looking younger.
My sister and her daughter came with us.  Lately, I've traveled with people my own age.  Going with these young people helped us get our money's worth big time.  After that nine hour tour, I might have chosen to hole up in bed with room service and a book.  The girls got us up and going to a distant--we now knew how to use the subway--restaurant, and we had a late night jaunt to Times Square.

Jumble

The present week has been a jumble of events.  I work casual part time for the hospital that employed me for 30 years.  Yesterday, our nurses staged a one day strike.  I helped with handoffs between our nurses and the replacement nurses, and then did documentation support for the replacements.  I had a little trepidation about how things would go when our nurses returned.  Would they be angry?  The news media had showcased examples of militant nurses on the picket lines.

I needn't have worried.  The replacement nurses went down the back elevator and the hospital's own nurses came up the front.  I got tears in my eyes when I saw them and was moved to greet them warmly.  "We're glad to see you too," they called.  There will be hard days ahead for all of us, but in the end we're a team of professionals working in a respect-based culture.  I pray that we can listen to and hear each other over the coming weeks.  In years past, I was a member of the management negotiating team.  I'm glad I'm on the sidelines now, helping where I can.

A book I've been reading suggests that I would be in a better position to negotiate now than in years past--that wisdom idea again.  I think I've mentioned that A Course In Miracles has influenced my thinking, though I don't consider myself a formal student of the course.  Several well known authors have been influenced by the course also.  One of them is Marianne Williamson, and I've been reading her book The Age of Miracles.  I particularly relate to the prayers she has scattered through the pages, one of which reads in part:...Show me how to use my gifts well, and how to pass them on. (p82)

Graduation Day

One of the students graduating from high school tonight is very special to me.  Almost 10 years ago, I got a call from family vacationing in Florida.  "We've been in a terrible accident.  Please come."  When I and a brother and sister arrived in Florida, our brother was in ICU in one hospital, our 8 year old niece was in ICU in another hospital and our 3 year old nephew was in surgery.  Our sister-in-law, who had been driving, greeted me with, "I almost killed my whole family."  She had been driving the car, and though the accident wasn't her fault, she kept trying to think of ways it could have been avoided.
Ashley, my niece, was permanently paralyzed as a result of the accident.  The fact that it was permanent was hard to accept.  Toward the end of her rehab, about six months after the accident, we went to Shriners hospital in Chicago for a second opinion.  There, our high hopes were dashed in no uncertain terms by a no nonsense team of doctors.  Stunned, we got in a cab and, as we had promised Ashley, went to the American Girl doll store.  You can imagine Mom and Aunt and an 9 year old girl in a wheelchair turned loose in the American Girl doll store after news like that!
Ashley's journey to this graduation day hasn't been easy and the whole family is proud of her accomplishments.  She went to her prom, and her glowing report included the fact that she, "Danced all night."  hmmm
My graduation gift will fulfill promise made during the first hospitalization back in Tampa--a trip to New York City.  (She says she doesn't remember anything from that hospitalization, but she's never forgotten the New York promise.)

Prayer for Loved Ones

Most mornings I start the day by reading the Unity Publication Daily Word (available by subscription & at http://www.dailyword.com/. )  The prayer for Wednesday May 26 is a keeper!  It reads in part,
     ...I pray that at the start of your day, you are filled with confidence and energy, ready to
        experience a day of accomplishment and meaning.  I pray that tonight as you lay your
        head on your pillow, ready for sleep, you have peace about the day that is ending and
        expectation of good for the new day to come.  And so it is.  Amen