Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Victory

I am sitting here, and have been sitting here for 20 minutes, trying to think about what to blog about today. Little ideas have flitted, to briefly to be caught, across my conciousness. But nothing comes to mind.

You see yesterday I got up and went to work, spent the day at work, then I went home, cooked supper with Joe and then watched a bit of television while having supper. After all this excitement, I went to bed to read.

An ordinary day.

That's all it was, an ordinary day.

A day like everyone else's - the only difference was that it was lived by me.

Sometimes, I catch someone glance at me. I see their thoughts on their faces. They wonder how I manage. They ask themselves what it must be like to be disabled. They titilate themselves with the 'horror' of a life lived with a disability. I can't imagine what they imagine.

Mostly because my life is a series of ordinary days. Get up, get about my business, eat, poop, sleep. There is nothing inspiring, nothing extraordinary about a life lived with the thudding repetitiveness that comes with work and worry. So when I get those glances, when I see the 'wondering' and the 'imagining' - the ordinariness of my life makes me almost giggle.

But I think the success of the disability movement, if I may be so bold as to suggest a measure, is the extraordinary ordinariness of everyday life as lived by somewhat less than ordinary people. Sitting in a cafeteria watching a guy with Down Syndrome wipe sleep out of his eyes as he chows down on breakfast - an ordinary scene. An every day sight. Yet, still, a victory of unimagined proportions.

So I have nothing to write today because it was only a typical day.

Not worthy of comment.

Except to say that I am thankful.

To experience typical days in a less than typical way.

5 comments:

FAB said...

Here, Here for all extraordinary people living ordinary lives!

Kei said...

Oh, I cherish ordinary days. The days where I watch William go about his day like any other child would. He gets up, wipes the sleep out of his eyes, gives me a big hug and a sweet kiss and tells me "I love you". He has his breakfast of strawberry oatmeal and then watches his favorite dvd of the moment on his little portable dvd player. He has some little prop associated with whatever his current favorite theme is. For 3 weeks, it was the Solar System, and he surrounded himself with books on the planets, a paper and crayons as he drew each one surrounding the sun. In order. He recites them in order, and knows the little tidbits about each one. I finally learned all this information about 3 weeks ago, after he taught me. He's 8 and has Down syndrome. I'm 47 and do not. He taught me something that in my 47 years I could not seem to retain.
Yes, I love these ordinary days.

lina said...

I love ordinary days - lived by extraordinory people - yay to Fab and everyone else!

Unknown said...

Here is to ordinary days, being lived by extraordinary people.

I have a little needlepoint saying hanging on my wall....."Graditude is the sign of noble souls"

I too am thankful for this day!

P.S. My oldest daughter just mentioned your blog in one of her college classes. So if you start to see a lot of hits from Florida, you might know why! :)

Glee said...

Excellent Dave, I too giggle to myself and sometimes out loud when I see ppl looking at me and have an idea that they are catastrophising my ordinary life. It is my secret that they will never have the wherewithall to know and it does cheer me up!

Hey I like the new format - very sleek and snappy. Are there new features available? How did you do it?