Happy Fracture Free Friday everyone!
This will be the first of many more 'Fracture Free Friday' posts. These entries will take the time to mention a few things/people that I am thankful for because I am fracture free this Friday. I also will use this post to share some flashbacks from my childhood, some will be fond memories and others will be not so fond memories. The point of these entries is to help us all take some time to reflect on goals and accomplishments we have achieved this week, and even in our lifetime!
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Lately it's been raining and feeling like the kind of weather that sneaks in between October and November. My entire body has been aching and as I'm wondering if this is what it's like to feel 100 years-old I'm thankful to not be traveling in this weather with a cast. There is something about sitting in a wet wheelchair that is already miserable. If you catch me in a downpour I will be racing to the nearest public bathroom not because I need to go really badly, but because I want to dry off and will sit underneath the automatic hand dryer machines for as long as necessary. When I was younger I used to wish that I could be like Inspector Gadget and say "go go gadget 'brella!" And out would pop an umbrella from my wheelchair .... someone out there, get on that! But traveling in rainy weather with a cast can be even more annoying. The hassle of plastic bags, or sometimes when you forget about the plastic bag the cast itself may get wet - then you're stuck itching like crazy, or you may end up covered in baby powder in the attempt to dry off. If it's an arm that's in a cast the trouble with raincoats and ponchos can be that the arm-hole may never be large enough or angled correctly to get your arm through. I always felt like a lopsided bird whenever this would happen, kind of awkwardly nudging my wheelchair along with one hand as I grab onto walls and rails to pull myself along.

Speaking of getting around, when I was younger I had one of three ways of getting around the house: 1. my manual wheelchair 2. the scoot-shuffle-crawl method 3. my tricycle. I loved my tricycle. It was the only pink colored thing I have ever loved and probably will ever love. I would race around the house going on epic adventures that could only be seen in my head. The trike had an electric button that when pressed would make the front piece light up and make this awesome sound that quickly died from over-use. Even when the lights and sound effects became muted forever I would still push the button and create my own sound effects. Around that time I was also watching Star Trek with my older brother; does anyone remember the phrase "beam me up Scotty" ?? I would be zooming back to my own version of the starship base - typically this would be when my mom started yelling at me about god only knows what.

I don't do this with strangers often so you should feel privileged to see a picture of me when I was much younger. But I hope the above blurb reminds us of the distance and adventures we have all traversed whether imaginary or real.