Summer is coming and in anticipation I am…..pissed off!
OK. So I am not always my own best client. Sometimes I just react.
Why am I peeved? Because summer has always been full of opportunities and I am discovering that list of choices is much smaller now.
People are telling me I am NOT to try to ride my bike. The bike trail is on the other side of two major roads. I will get myself killed. Get someone to drive me over. So instead of a spontaneous little jaunt on a lovely summer’s day, my bike ride will be an event. Make arrangements, wait, load the bike, need to be back at a certain time, reload the bike. Really?!
The ice cream stand is even on the other side of the one major road. Rather than just scoot over for a large, soft-serve twist cone whenever I like, that is going to be an event this summer, too.
I think I said this before in another post, but I am saying it again: this visual impairment business is damn inconvenient!
Almost everything I like to do has become impossible or majorly complicated. Or, caring folks are scared to death when I do it.
What got me going this morning was thinking about the river. I kayak and it is getting to be the season. How to do this? I still have enough sight that I will be fine on the river once I get there. I would not be a problem in and of myself. Maybe, just to be on the safe side, I should join a group. If there is the safety of a group, maybe I should ask Lara (who is pretty much totally blind).
Great sentiment but even if we rent a tandem kayak, the group was hesitant. We would have to bring our own support people. It was never said, but liability would be a concern.
So now I am not only peeved for myself but I am peeved for Lara. Don’t encourage us to go kayaking because something may happen to the blind lady. We cannot have a nice day on the river because of someone else’s fears. Again, really?
OK. Some things are out of the question. Me driving would be dangerous to others, for example. But some things are not out of the question. When I googled blind kayaking I found two guys who had paddled through the Grand Canyon. Both blind. If they can do that, this river should be a piece of cake.
Maybe these things can be done. They just have to be done differently. I wonder how open-minded my mobility person is going to be. I wonder if he likes to ski. After all, winter will be coming. ?