Handicapped?

I was only in a wheelchair for a (relatively) short time, but it felt like an eternity. I didn't have a mechanized wheelchair for fear that it would make me lazy, or I would stop trying to get better.

I've known several people who due to age or other factors, have no hope of improvement. I feel somewhat guilty now that I'm on the verge of walking unassisted, but I still have a long way to go.

The other day my next door neighbor mowed our lawn for us. We didn't ask him to, he just saw the lawn needed mowing and kept going. I appreciated it.

When my wife thanked him, he said he wasn't sure if he should have, but he noticed I had "a handicap of some sort."

My wife mentioned that I had a stroke and that up until then, I had mowed the lawn. I had also cooked, cleaned the house, washed the dishes, taken care of the laundry and half a dozen other things that likely contributed to me having a stroke.

Robin stepped up to the challenge and managed to take care of everything I used to do, handle the kids, work a full time job and somehow not crack. I'm very proud of her.

But, the point is, I don't even like her doing things for me, that's why I took on too much. Since my stroke she has had to help me in the bathroom, pick me up off the floor, and half a dozen other humiliating things that no wife should ever have to do for a husband.

Back when my right side was still completely paralyzed, I used to roll out of bed and be stuck in the floor. More than once Robin threw out her back trying to get me out of the floor.

I appreciate that.

I've known people who have had strokes and can't recover. I'm not sure why, physically, I had the stroke but I'm slowly coming back. I suppose if I'm forced to admit it, I am handicapped. I can think of things I still can't do for myself. So when I saw that New York is replacing their handicapped logos, I saw the new logo as inspiration.

It's a logo that implies trying. It's much less depressing than the old passive sitting in the chair-with-hands-folded logo.