Member-only story
#When a Cripple Puts Up The Christmas Tree
I Refuse To Give Up
When all of the able bodies in my family refused to set up the Christmas tree this year, at first I thought we just wouldn’t have one. Not the end of the world. I was disabled by a stroke 20 years ago and am the only member of the family who can’t safely get the tree up. My balance is poor and I am weak and uncoordinated.
I did not get where I am by having a defeatist attitude. I fought my way back from total left sided paralysis after giving birth to the baby I was expecting when I had the stroke. I live a relatively normal life despite my physical limitations.
Living like this means I have to accept many things will not be the way I would like. But not having a tree up for the first time in my life was not going to be one of them. I would just have to accept that the tree wouldn’t look perfect.
I had forgotten that a home health aide who worked for me last January had started to remove the lights from our pre lit artificial tree when I asked her to take it down. She didn’t realize the lights weren’t supposed to be removed. There was a lot of damage done. It was put away in a box in the basement and forgotten about.
I tried to get my sons who are 20 and 22 to put the tree up. They are over it. They don’t believe Santa won’t come if…
