I don’t have any real disabilities but my mom taught me how life does not need to be perfect to be good.

When I was 6 and she was 40 she had a brain hemorrhage. In 1957 brain surgery was not great so the solution to save her life was to tie off a carotid artery that totally paralyzed her on her left side. She eventually regained some muscle strength and could walk but she never drove again.

Interesting enough she had almost no intellectual impairment, except, she lost the sense of time.

I distinctly remember her grace and how she approached life. One very vivid memory was during a physical therapy session. A nurse would come to our house and gave her physical therapy from time to time. They would sit on the floor and do various stretches. One day the nurse said … “OK, we are done, now get up”. My mom said she did not think she could but the nurse encouraged her. She managed to drag herself to the couch and after some work pulled herself up and sat down. She then said, “I guess I can do that”.

I remember many other events where her disability was a challenge but she simply accepted it as part of her life.

She lived another 35 years.

Her ability to accept with grace and courage how her life had turned out was her greatest gift to me.

Sometimes life gives us lessons first hand. Sometimes life gives us lessons through others. If we pay attention we can learn and grow from these lessons.

Elizabeth, thanks for the reminder through the story of your own trials and tribulations … and the smile it brought to my face.