2016

I forgot about this blog for awhile, to be honest. A lot has happened since 2014.

Me and my husband moved to Illinois a year ago this month (August 2015), for him to attend graduate school. I work at a pointless job in a local community college. At least it's full-time, so I get benefits. But, it is hard to work a job where nothing you do really matters, and you're forced to answer to people that you don't like. But the point of this blog is not to gripe about my dumb job, right? That's what my other blog is for.

As far as a Dad update, things are steadily going downhill. When I was back home in May, he barely used his walker at all, and relied solely on his wheelchair for getting places. He's losing dexterity in his hands and arms. My mom has to dress him everyday, although he is able to basically get ready himself. Recently, they just got a prescription for a lift to be installed in our house for the days when my mom and him both don't have the energy to get him in/out of bed.

In Mom news, she's in her second year of her Master's program in Educational Leadership, which means instead of being a teacher the rest of her life, she can be a principal. Good news, because even though my dad is still able to work, medical bills can and do pile up. Specialists are not cheap.

Speaking of specialists. my dad has found a new doctor that he really likes. He's in a wheelchair too, due to an accident, so he gets what it's like to be disabled in a world meant for people who can walk. Also, due to my dad's continually decreasing level of physical activity, he will be going to a physical therapist a couple times a week to work on his muscle tone. Since I don't live anywhere close to my family anymore, it's hard to know how things are going, since I only see snapshots when I visit home on holidays.

I have gotten much better about talking about his illness. Not to the point of feeling like I can just throw it out there as a topic for discussion, but when people ask if we plan on staying in Chicago once my husband graduates, I can easily say no, because 1. I hate it here, and 2. if we lived here, my parents would never be able to visit. (People make a big fuss about being handicap friendly, but believe you me, being "handicap friendly" and actually handicap helpful are two completely different matters.) Usually this leads to them asking why, and me simply saying that my father is disabled and it's difficult for him to travel. People won't make a big deal out of things if you won't. I've learned to not show that it affects me, and then people will just move on with other topics of conversation.

I don't know. I guess things are going okay. I still suffer from anxiety on a daily basis, and hate hate HATE social interactions with those in my ward. I feel like nobody really cares about us here. Everyone is too busy having children and doing whatever it is that they do with their time to care about a new couple from Utah.

One last politically incendiary thought - why do people push for transgender bathrooms, and yet hardly anywhere I go has disability bathrooms? Guess what. If you're transgender, cool. Whatever. Do you really need a separate bathroom, when you can just walk in and go like a regular human? Why should we focus on putting transgender bathrooms in public places, when disabled bathrooms are needed much more, and a greater population of the world is disabled than transgender? I hate pandering to people, especially if it isn't necessary. A transgender bathroom isn't necessary. A disabled one is. Period.

I guess getting political isn't really what this blog is meant for. But that has bothered me for a really long time. Thanks for reading. I'm going to try and keep this more updated. I can't be the only one with a relative out there suffering from a degenerative neural condition. Whatever led you here, thanks for reading.