Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Letting Go a Piece at a Time



This is one of my favorite pictures of my mother.
It was taken in Skagway, Alaska as we got ready to re-board the ship
after a day of riding the train to White Pass, which is what you do in Skagway.

It shows her sitting in her walker/wheel-chair which significantly
changed her life and ability to travel when we bought it several years ago.
Now, hopefully, it's changing someone else's life and improving their mobility.

Momma had peripheral neuropathy which is one of the complications of diabetes.
What she didn't know, because maybe even her doctors didn't know then,
is that with simple B-complex vitamins she might have diminished that
side effect of Metformin which she took for years.
The walker helped her have confidence getting around when she
could no longer feel her feet.
That walker literally allowed her to travel the world.

But, I digress...
This week I took the step of donating her walker/wheelchair.

I had previously loaned it to a friend who's co-worker had broken their leg
and was completely immobile.
It allowed my friend, and her other friends, to push this lady
out and about town; get her out of the house for a while.
And, I didn't feel bad about loaning it to them, because I knew it was coming back.
It was one of those objects that meant so much to my mother,
that I knew it would be hard to let go...
Loaning it out first made it easier.

There's a social worker at the hospital where I work at who's received
the bulk of Momma's medical supplies from her final days.
She knows the need, and she distributes things to her many clients.

I told her to make sure that someone very special got the walker.
Even though all of her clients are special, this was one of those pieces
that meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to my Momma.

I hope someone's life is changed because of it.
I hope someone's life is made better because of it.
I hope whomever receives it really appreciates it.
And, I truly hope that walker will continue to travel,
because if it could share the adventures it's had...

And, weird as it may sound,
I hope that walker has a long life helping people
because it helped and sometimes carried the most important
person in my life once upon a time.

Momma under the Alaskan Pipeline on our
second trip to Alaska...



2 comments:

betty said...

Knowing God, I'm betting that walker will be a useful tool for so many and might even get to travel along the way! Its good, as hard as it might have been to let it go, that you know someone will be getting use out of it and being functional again like it helped your mom with her ability to travel.

betty

Jessie bugbee said...

Beautiful Veronica.

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