#WordyandWheelyWednesdays: Just keep swimming

Hello my lovely readers

A very short post this week as I still don't seem to have found my words yet.

So I thought you could have this video instead, to show you that I am keeping going on my mission.

Thanks so much again for all your support thus far - it really does mean so much.

Love and gratitude until next week

Jx

#WordyandWheelyWednesdays: A Week Off pt 2

Hello my lovely readers!

It has been quite a turbulent time, both personally and nationally, so due to that, and out of respect for all those affected by the events in Manchester, I'm taking a week off blogging properly.

I do however want to say the hugest of thank yous for all the generosity so far on my campaign for Starlight. I am overwhelmed that I have surpassed my target by so much and am so very grateful. As a thank you, and a reminder that we can get through anything if we stick together, have this video from the South African band Freshlyground:

Love and gratitude and tight holds until next week

Jx

 

#WordyandWheelyWednesdays: Motion for Emotion

Hello my lovely readers

In many ways this couldn't be a more different post to last week's - where the tone of that was upbeat, this might be construed as sombre. That said, they're both about navigating the nuances of life with disability; and, in any case, this post needs to be written.

On Saturday, I received the news that another dear friend had died. This time, it was Shane (or Martop, as we called him) who is probably best described as the resident joker - but really a massive softy - of our close-knit class at Treloar. I, along with the rest of our group, couldn't (and still can't) believe it. Although within a community like ours we are far too intimately acquainted with death, and exist with perpetual tenterhooks at the back of our minds, it is still a shock - and especially in this case as Shane was always such a fighter and had come through so many times before. I have been feeling absolutely desperate, not just with my own grief but in thinking about my friends, who had extra years at school and college with him after I left. I wish we could all be together right now instead of spread across the country, and that our next reunion did not have to be at a funeral. If you are reading this, aside from my private messages, I want you to know that I am here for you just as you are for me.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this latest instance of grief has brought up all of my previous losses as well, and so I have spent the last few days engaged in various levels of self-care in an effort to process the fact that they now number 13. Although of course I am allowing myself to sit with the feelings and not pressure or judge myself too much,  I have also wanted to find something productive into which I might channel my emotions. Given my recent physical improvements, I have decided to capitalise on them and do an event in memory of all my special people - not least because our connections were often sport or outdoors related. I wasn't quite ready to go public about this, but Shane's passing has reminded me that we can't afford to waste a moment, so here it is.

I am going to walk 100 metres with the support of a walking-frame (not the one pictured) in September to commemorate all of my special people, and raise money for Starlight whilst doing so, because they are responsible for getting me through my roughest patches and reminding me that I have both the strength and the responsibility to keep going. The event is called Parallel London and you can read about it here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Parrott-Does-Parallel

I apologise if this isn't the most eloquent post. It is heartfelt, and it's feeling easier at the moment to translate emotion into motion than words. Thank you for reading as always. 

Love and tight hugs until next week

Jxxx

#WordyandWheelyWednesdays: Feeling Wheely Free

Hello my lovely readers!

Another slightly slapdash post this week, that yet again isn't about what I originally planned. However, it does link in with the planned posts, as will hopefully become clear when they are uploaded.

I am currently up at uni and, for the first time in a very long while, I find myself blessed with a full team of PAs, comprised of both old hands and new recruits. Not only that, they are all lovely and keen, and genuinely want to make it as easy as possible for me to live my life the way I choose. I couldn't be more grateful. 

Of course I'm a little reticent to get too excited just yet, but that's kind of what this post is about - because somehow, even though we're all just settling in, I'm still able to maintain the improvements I've made through being at home. Usually when I'm in a newer situation, things start to slip, both physically and mentally. This time, although of course there are tricky moments (like nearly getting locked out of my flat this evening because the locks are so stiff and there's a real knack to opening them - don't worry, Mama, all sorted), I'm just able to laugh and go with the flow.

I don't mean that everything's perfect at all - my body is still my body, with its quirks, and my mind is still my mind, with its qualms, so aspects aren't as great as perhaps my various therapists might like them to be. 

Yet I seem to be more okay with that imperfection than I've ever been before; thanks in no small part to the awareness that I have people who will catch me (literally) if I don't quite manage to keep myself up. So much so that, when I got too hot today, I was brave enough to shed my hoody and allow the rare Plaid Parrott to make an appearance on campus - way beyond my usual comfort zone.

Photo credit Lynda Obeng

I guess the message of this entry is summed up in its title - I'm feeling Wheely free and, for the moment, trying to bask in that without doubting my judgement. Who knows, maybe the sun's gone to my head. Whatever's made it possible, though, here's hoping it stays for a little longer.

Love until next week,

Jx

#WordyandWheelyWednesdays: Medicinal Hiatus

Hello my lovely readers!

Not quite a week off, but a very short entry, after a very long day. The title of this post relates to the fact that Mama and I have taken a spontaneous and brief trip up to Edinburgh. We are visiting cousins who are over from Canada, so I allowed myself a day off for health and happiness in the Scottish sunshine.

Part of this involved a medicinal glass of Scotch, which somehow tastes even better when drunk in Scotland. And then a catch up with the glorious Gimby! I am one contented Wordy, Wheely, Whisky drinker...and now I'm off to bed.

Love until next week

Jx