I have a goal for myself

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be like my sisters: able to get up and walk. I have a goal in my mind that one day, I’ll be able to get out of my wheelchair and do just that. At age 35 (in two years), I want to go out to a movie all by myself so my friends won’t have to take my wheelchair. It’ll be easier to go out with everybody because they won’t have to worry about making room for my chair in the car. And at age 40, I’m hoping I won’t have to be in my wheelchair anymore. I’ll keep working on my leg strength so that I can do that; I am working out two times a week on the bike for an hour each time, and I want to try the treadmill and move my legs like a normal person. I want to get more muscle in my upper body too, so I’ll have to do some weights. Also, I want to get back in the water like I was in Hawaii, and get into Special Olympics.

I see a lot of people on TV who are getting into accidents, needing wheelchairs, and they think that their life is over because they can’t walk anymore. But if they work hard enough, they can get back their mobility and their life. I know that I have a good life with my family and friends, but I want to do more with myself.

Hi everybody!

How are you? I hope you're having a good winter, and I hope you are staying warm.

I've had a good winter so far; I went to Hawaii with my best friend and roommate for 5 weeks. It was so nice to wear T-shirts, shorts and sandals, and be outside in the sun. My skin was soft and it was nice to not have to put on lotion every day. My hair was also soft and clean so I only washed it two times a week.

I did a lot of exercise while I was there; I went swimming every day, and did 30-40 laps a day in the pool. I did it all without a life jacket. Instead, I had a flotation belt around my waist. It was fantastic to get back in the water and swim. I forgot how much I miss the water! Every day after swimming, we went back to our place where we were staying at, and had something to eat. We changed into dry bathing suits, laid by the pool and got tanned.

There was one day when we went shopping, and I wanted to get a necklace and a couple things for myself. A couple days before, it was a bit chilly so we went shopping. I bought some things for my nieces and nephews because I thought that it would be better to get something for them in Hawaii than in New Zealand which I would have to carry around for 37 days (I'm going on a cruise to New Zealand in April). On that day, it was raining, but it was a warm rain. When Laura and I were walking around, there were people trying to get out of the rain. It was kind of funny because it wasn't a cold type of rain where you can freeze your butt off. I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and after we finished shopping, we had to walk far because we had to park a ways away. It was nice to walk in the rain, but when we got home, we were soaking wet! It was still a good day.

We went to the beach for one day only because it was hard for me to get in the water due to the waves; you have to move fast to get in. I sat on the beach instead and watched my roommate go in the water.  When we were getting ready to go, we saw a whale. It was cool to see! I felt a little sad though that I couldn't go into the water where we were at. At another beach in another town (Kihei, which was 15 minutes away from us), I could have gone in the water because they had a floating wheelchair there, but every time we went to this beach, something else came up. The week before we were able to go, my ear got infected, so I didn't want to get in the water.

For food, we mostly cooked all of it. We only went out to eat three times. The first day, we went to IHOPs after we landed. The second time, we went over to a friend's house to have supper. Finally, the night before we left, we bought burgers. Also, I made a couple of new friends at the pool; they were the lifeguards. So now, two of them are my Facebook friends.

The 5 weeks that I was there went by so fast! I hope I can go back soon.