In Which We Have A Good Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day, everyone!

Jeremy says "Thank you for your well wishes and support." I tried to get him to do the writing for today, but he told me that was all he had to say and it would make a very short blog post. So you're stuck with me, instead. Sorry.

We had a nice, quiet day-- after some errand running and a visit from the home health nurse in the morning, we took off for Bradley Park. It's the local wheelchair accessible park in town, and in addition to having a fully accessible playground it has a number of wide, paved wheelchair friendly trails. Jer and Connor and I all went for a stroll.

It's amazing to see how far Jer has progressed since he first arrived home. The last time we went down the trail was about a month ago, and Jer had to stop six or seven times to rest. About a third of the way in we had to turn around and go back. This time he did the whole trail without stopping, and on the downslopes I had to practically jog to keep up with him!

I had to keep Connor lined up next to Jeremy or he would start yelling. This is because he has discovered the little front wheels on Jer's wheelchair. Apparently they are hilarious. He spent the entire time staring at Jer's left front wheel and giggling, and so if I fell back too far and he couldn't see them he made his displeasure known until I moved him back into the proper position. Connor's laughter is very contagious, so it made for an amusing walk. Glad to see that he's not too upset about the whole "Daddy in a wheelchair" thing.

It was pretty cold when we were finished with our walk, but we can't leave the playground without going on the swing. Connor got increasingly excited as we approached; he knows that he always gets swing time before we leave. Jer took some pictures while I pushed him on the swing. Isn't he a cutie?

A couple of women walking past stopped to watch us play. Connor was giggling up a storm, and Jer and I were both signing to him and laughing. "See?" one of them said loudly to the other. "They have special places for those people to go around here. But they're terribly expensive to build." The other woman nodded in agreement. "It's nice, though." Then they continued on their way. I'm not sure exactly how someone could look at our happy little family and refer to us as those people, but we were having a good time and weren't about to let them spoil our day. We just ignored them.

After our playground adventure we drove over to Applebee's, which was having a Veterans Eat Free special, but it was packed and we didn't feel like braving the crowd, so instead we went to a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant, where Connor tried to eat half of my curry. The kid really likes Massaman curry. I like it with a bit of a kick to it, so he always makes a scrunched-up face when the spice hits him, and then he immediately asks for more. This is the kid that will suck on raw limes, so I can't say I'm surprised. He likes his flavors strong.

Then it was off to our usual haunt: the bookstore. Yes, I know I went yesterday. But I'm already down to one book, so I needed another. Yes, I know I read way, way too fast. Oh well. Jer didn't get anything, but he indulged me by feeding my book addiction. We went home and spent the rest of the evening curled up reading and drinking copious amounts of hot cocoa and tea.

So overall it was a great day. I'm glad Jer was here to spend it with me.

I'm so lucky.

~Jess