Merry Christmas and Happy 2016 New Year
I wait this long so I can feel like it’s almost
spring. But it doesn’t matter if I don’t know what
the temperature is because I live in a warm house in cold country where what I
need is within reach, and everything's familiar. I'm to the point that
familiarity outranks exciting. And really, there are small moments of great
beauty at the birdfeeders just outside my window and in the weather I can still
watch. I don't have to be out in it to know how it feels.
And along that line, my latest addition in the quest for safety
and mobility indoors is a piece of equipment called a multi-lift, bolted to the
wall near my bed so the battery-operated, remote-controlled flexible extension
arm can reach out to pick me up in the sling and place me in my power chair or
back to bed as I choose. This takes the place of having to wait for my evening
helper on those days when my knees are not stable enough to risk getting up in
braces. There are those days.
And when spring does come there will be a special installation
in the car so the multi-lift can move me from chair to car seat without the
risks of a pivot transfer on concrete. If I still had the motorhome (the sale
of which paid for the multi-lift) this great gadget would even have gotten me
through that tall door!
I’m just telling you the new stuff here. The old
stuff is that I’m the same as I ever was, except older and maybe wise enough to
be grateful for what is left to me. I am still writing, after all, and the one
volume autobiography has now turned into six! I still take pictures, even from
EWTN, and have turned my walls into galleries.
And I go to Church every day, also by way of
technology, and I get front row seats on every trip Pope Francis makes, every
celebration at St. Peter’s Basilica and for quite a few consecrations of new
Priests and Bishops in America. In other words, I get around more and see
better things than when I could walk. Plus, there are really good people who
come each week from my home town Church with Communion.
And because I am a Carmelite, even if housebound,
I pray for our country, our world, our families and ancestors, for nursing
homes and everybody who suffers. That includes you if you need it or want it. See
you next year, wherever we are.
--Norma
