Hi to all my friends and family,
Is it Spring, yet?!?! Many of us . . . Okay . . . Myself . . . are feeling anxious and annoyed that Spring has not quite decided it wants to stick around. I have tried to follow my own advice and just try to sleep-walk through each day, pretending that I’m enjoying whatever the weather is doing at the moment and forgetting that the temperature is still close to freezing. Way below freezing at night. And . . . Waiting . . .
This story is not about weather. Pardon my little rant, there. I think I feel better, now . . .
The person that dad features in this story is exactly how he describes her. Courageous, generous, industrious and fun to be with. She has lost her husband and her mother since this article was written but has plenty of family and friends to help her care for herself. Carol Little is one of those ‘real’ people that always make you feel comfortable and loved when you are near her. You forget that Carol is blind when speaking with her. My cousin, Brian, is the same way. As inspirational a person as the biggest star athlete could be.
I like to use dad as an example of resilience. When he fell off his deck, breaking his pelvis, it looked bad for dad. But, during the whole recovery ordeal dad never showed any sense that he wouldn’t heal and live a normal life, again. He said his doctor advised that dad should sell his horse because he would never ride, again. Dad proved his doctor wrong in a big way. He was riding ‘Big Toby’ within a year. During his recovery, when we saw dad, he was more than likely sitting in his wheelchair and doing sit-down exercises with a passion. Sweating and grunting. Flailing the small barbells around . . . I thought he was overdoing it. And, he probably was. But, the results were amazing! Dad recovered completely and, for the rest of his life, dad had a regular exercise regimen, visiting the local gym regularly and eating healthy.
I think there must be something in ‘attitude’. If you say you will recover, you will. It’s as simple as that. Lying to yourself about the chances of recovery is healthy . . . Again, it’s as simple as that. When I was hospitalized and very ill with complete liver failure due to an, as yet, undiagnosed “Wilson’s Disease” (Look it up. It’s kind of rare) in 1987, they said I would most likely not survive. They didn’t tell me, though . . . I expected to recover and go back to a normal life, soon. I felt pretty bad and was bleeding from pretty much every part of my body but, I didn’t think for a moment that I might not survive. Delusional? Lying to myself despite evidence that I was on the brink of death? Sure! It works! Eighteen months later, I was looking for work. Dad was proof of the power of delusion, and I’m proud to be his son and part of a legacy of lying to yourself for health!
I’m going to lie to myself about Spring being here, also. Maybe it will just surprise me and show up, someday . . .
I hope you enjoy this story. Thanks for reading,
Happy Spring!
Love to friends and family,
David T
p.s. Comments are very much appreciated.You can write comments below each story.
“Walk In Someone Else’s Shoes”
By Don Tschirhart
Excerpted from the unpublished book “It’s a Wonderful World II: A Retired Reporter Looks At Life“
Walk In Someone Else’s Shoes
How do you know how tough life is unless you walk in someone else’s shoes?
Nearly two decades ago I fell backwards off a second-story deck and separated my pelvis and fractured my back. Docs put me together with pins and needles and I was confined for six weeks to a wheelchair.
Every time I see someone in a wheel chair I know vicariously what it’s like to be a victim of a spinal injury, multiple sclerosis or some other crippling ailment or disease.
It isn’t nice to be hampered. Those who have not been handicapped find it hard to imagine life with restrictions and to always need someone’s help.
It’s those who fight their physical and mental problems that wins our admiration.
There was the smiling young lady from Imlay City with multiple sclerosis (MS) who stood in line for a flu shot at Farmer Jack’s last fall refusing most offers of help. Before we left I thanked her for encouraging me.
Some years ago I interviewed a mentally handicapped young lady working as a McDonald’s clean-up helper. Her goal: To marry her boy friend in two weeks. Fellow workers and customers loved her smile and attitude.
There was a friend of mine diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Art knew what the end stages of the disease would be like. Yet he smiled and laughed as his hands shook when he fed himself. When told by doctors cancer would kill him before Lou Gehrig’s, Art jumped for joy.
My wife, Margie, has a nephew with MS. On the outside you won’t find a more cheerful man. I’m sure on the inside he’s hurting.
Most recently I had a cataract removed from my left eye (the good one) and spent 24 hours not being able to watch TV or read a book.
It was then I began to understand the frustration of those whose eye problems I shared momentarily.
Some sightless people are bitter. Many years ago I interviewed the head of a blind persons’ agency who yelled and cursed at the dark world he lived in. I felt sorry for him.
I’ve told you these stories to introduce you to a friend, Carol Little, one of the bravest and sweetest ladies I have ever met. For some years Carol has slowly been going blind.
I first met Carol after she began dating my son’s father-in-law, Jack Little, when both of them were executives in a natural gas pipeline company in downtown Detroit. They married and purchased a home in Lake Orion near where we lived at the time.
It was just before they moved into a house near Hadley that we found out Carol had retinitis pigmentosa in which the peripheral vision closes down and the sight is as if one were looking through a tube of a gun barrel.
It’s progressive. There is no known cure. Her present vision is a pinpoint.
It was when they moved to Hadley that Jack and Carol decided to get involved in politics, specifically the Republican Party. Jack, a Korean and Vietnam Air Force veteran, wanted to continue serving his country.
Within a few short years Jack was elected chairman of the Lapeer party. Party members knew they were getting more than a chairman. They were getting Carol. And Jack appreciates it.
Sight handicap? What handicap? Until she retired, she would often hitch a ride with me to her Detroit office when husband, Jack, was out of town.
Even today, 15 years later, I miss those times when we talked about everything including life and her desire never to “feel” handicapped.
The amount of work that wonderful blond lady does for her political party and for charitable organizations is amazing. It seems unbelievable that she, with Jack’s help, produces a four-to-six page monthly newsletter to party members.
Using her pin-hole sight, Carol, with the help of many admirers, put together the political party’s successful Lincoln Day Dinner a while ago at the Center Building in Lapeer. They celebrated the party’s victory last election in every Lapeer County community except one.
One other thing: Helping Carol yet trying to keep her independent is her mother/shadow, Jane Ryan Vitogeanes.
I can’t say enough about this personable white-haired, lovely lady who is nearly always at Carol’s side. Whether it’s manning booths at special holidays and fairs in Lapeer, Imlay City and other communities or being active members of Immaculate Conception Church in Lapeer.
Carol, helped by her mom and Jack, is an inspiration to all she meets.
Don Tschirhart
