Five-Star Disability

Hey folks!

I have done blogs about why I can’t do snow, I did one last year. So I won’t bother to repeat myself there…

I don’t think I mentioned that we, currently, live on the top of a hill… with steep roads. While any other time of year, getting up and down are easily accomplished, when it snows and then accumulates, it becomes treacherous. Snow becomes hard, and turns to ice, and when it melts and later freezes, it becomes a downhill skating rink!

Okay, that is enough lecture.

Before I get to the issue of this blog, I must tell you that my wife grew up in Sudbury, Ontario. As a joke, started by Jeff Foxworthy I believe, the Sudbury seasons are listed as: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter & Construction! In other words; winter lasts from mid-November to early April. And snow can be as high as 4 feet, with snowbanks reaching 5 feet easily. I won’t get started on the temperature, which can range from -25 to -45. I have first hand experience with this type of weather because I lived there, with my wife, for three years!

Returning to the present:

Yesterday, almost all schools in Metro Vancouver declared a Rare Snow Day; thereby closing all schools! Yippee!

Yet, this morning, my wife informed me that schools were back in session! Immediately, I groaned, not because I had to leave the warm cocoon of bed, but because I knew I was in a uphill (pun intended) battle to get my kids to school!

As I scurried around making breakfast and lunch for my boys who were, surprisingly, awake and watching TV, my wife had left for work. Then about 7 minutes later, I felt a cold draft on my sock-less feet, “Why was the front door opening and shutting by itself,” I wondered aloud. And lo, my question was answered when my wife ambled into the kitchen looking dazed. “Did you fall?” I asked quickly, “Yes, icy hill!” She then informed me she fell on her back, feet zooming out from under her.

As I mentioned above, my wife grew up in Sudbury, she almost never falls in the snow or ice. She is surefooted! Heck, she can walk in the snow, with a 75 lb puppy on a leash, a cup of coffee in one hand and a phone to her should, AND fall, slip or spill! Oh Sudbury girl! But why did she fall on the hill? Well, Sudbury has no hills!

So, she is home, hurting and needing to rest, she calls work to info them she won’t be there today.

I am still getting my kids ready for school. I don’t catch on:: if my surefooted wife from snowbound Sudbury fell at the top of our hill, how will I, the Ataxian, the guy that trips over cracks in sidewalks, the guy who stumbles on uneven surfaces, the guy who walks one way but feet go another way, how can I get my children to school?

We had a little disagreement, at first I was adamant that my kids not miss school, then my wife knocked some sense into my bullish head: If she fell, I would sure to fall as well!

I am not sure how I missed that obvious connection, there has been an upswing (pun intended) in missing connections. All I can say is how deeply I love my wife for standing by me as I continue to go -yes, pun intended!- down hill!