Oh, Vermont.

You'll have to forgive me for not posting a blog entry last week... I was on vacation.  Well, sort of.  I went home to visit my family and friends in Vermont.  Vermont is quite lovely in the summer.  The landscape and style of houses still prove to be difficult, though.

I was frustrated the first night I was home with the obstacles in my parents' house.  Things all over the floor: rugs that slide, toys for my nephew, gates for the dogs, steps and stairs to get almost everywhere.  It's like an obstacle course.  The first emotion that hits me is sadness- sadness that I can't work around these things easily, sadness that I couldn't live here anymore.  But then I remember that this isn't my life anymore.  I don't live here.

I go home to see the people I love.  I just need to remember to mentally and physically prepare  myself when I go home.  Prepare myself to be even more vigilant about where I'm walking and how tired I am.   Prepare myself for the unavoidable falls and to do the best I can to make it through the week without falling all over everything.

My mind then drifted to my time living in Boston.  I have no idea how I got around like I did. It's a testament to how much my strength has declined in 5 years.  I wonder if I had stayed in Boston if my strength and coordination would still be like it was.  Maybe.  Or maybe it would have declined just the same and it would have gotten impossible for me to live there. Then what would I have done?  I would not have known that it would be easier for me in New Mexico.  After all, I had never been there before I moved.

I get a little depressed every time I go home.  I am reminded of all the things I cannot do. But, like I said, I go to Vermont to visit the people (and area) I love.  I only go home two weeks a year.  ...Eventually it might need to be two weeks in the summer instead of also going in the winter.  But surely, surely I can handle that.

Winter Weather

While I love Vermont with all my heart, the winter weather is miserable.  I was watching the weather before I left New Mexico.  It was supposed to be fairly mild with no precipitation for the week.  It obviously couldn't be that easy for me.

I got home on a Sunday evening, it was humid out, but not raining.  I love the humidity.  I fly into Albany which is about an hour and a half from our house in south-western Vermont.

"Everything's covered with ice," my mom said to me as we are leaving the airport.  "Your father said to call when we get close and he'll put some salt on the deck." 

The roads weren't bad, the temperature wasn't too cold, but it had rained and then the temperature dropped, and everything was indeed covered with ice.  Icicles were hanging from the mailbox, the trees, the side of the house, and the driveway... oh our driveway, which I'm pretty sure every one of my friends has driven/slid off at some point during our high school career... it was like an ice skating rink.

After the challenge of getting me into the house when we got home (this included both my mom and dad helping me after I almost got taken out by one of our very large dogs), I stayed inside for three days.  I didn't have to go out, so why go?  It got a little warmer toward the end of the week so the terrain was not so treacherous.  I was able to go out and hang out with friends. 

Maybe I needed a reminder of how impossible winter weather is for me.  As I am considering leaving New Mexico for the east coast, I have to very strategically figure out where I can be that isn't too far from home, but also somewhere that doesn't get too much (if any) snow/freezing rain/ice.  Because I can't hack it.  It's not so much of an issue when I don't need to be anywhere, but if I had a job, had to run errands, etc., it would make it very difficult.  Just one more pain in the ass side effect of having a muscle disorder that affects your mobility.