I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Well, with a lot of help from my friends, actually.

Thanks to all of you who, through the comments section, or in other ways, buoyed me up after my run-in with Nurse Skeptical about the disability tag. If I was looking for a silver lining, I found plenty with a little help from my friends. In case you missed them:

--Gretchen's reminder that having helpful and supportive parents, and a mother who was persistent enough to keep encouraging me to get a disability tag in the first place, is indeed a silver lining.

--CitricSugar's wisdom that if even one person can learn something about chronic illness, or about not taking everyday abilities for granted, through my story, "then you've got more of a silver lining than you thought."

--Ms. W-K's reminder that my silver lining is having the strength to tell my story. It has always been my hope that, if I began to write about my experience of illness, it would benefit others who might be experiencing something similar, or who might someday.

Then, there was another of my favorites from my friend, The Poet A.O.D. She said, "A pox on them all!"

So, thank you everyone (those mentioned here and many others) for your friendship, compassion, support, and medieval curses. You are all definitely one big huge enormous glittering silver lining in my life.

And here's another one: that, in having a chronic illness, I get to learn a lot of really interesting and important life lessons. Sometimes (okay, a lot of times) I even get to learn them more than once. After thinking about my conversation with Nurse Skeptical, it dawned on me that I didn't have to argue with her about that parking tag. I didn't have to convince her of anything. I could have referred her to the accompanying cover letter. I could've said, "I'll discuss this with the doctor myself." I could've said, "If you don't feel comfortable filling out the form, would you please pass it on to the doctor?"

One does not have to convince anyone of anything; one just has to live one's own authentic life.

It's a lesson I've learned before. It's something I've accepted on an intellectual level, but obviously, have not integrated into what I think of as the Wisdom Level of knowing something: the level of knowing whereby something is integrated into the way I live my life, my approach to every day. So, I guess I can think of Nurse Skeptical as a silver lining in and of herself: she pushed me a little further down the path of wisdom. I'd call back to thank her, but........... nah.

So, I think that's at least six silver linings altogether. Sometimes it just takes a little time. And a little help from my friends.