Seeking Positivity: A Summer of One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

A trip to the shore and a family reunion highlighted a summer that had its share of disappointments and signs of hope for the future. As the shadows are becoming a bit longer on my late afternoon walks, it’s time for what’s becoming my annual look back at summer.

The whole family! It was good seeing some
old faces and finding out what some of
the newer faces look like!

I was fortunate enough to get to the shore again this summer, something that I absolutely love. The whole family was down this year, and it was great to see everyone. Tempered by some difficult news from which we are all hoping for the best outcome, the week was a good one and seemed to reconnect everyone a bit. A reunion with my father’s side of the family was a nice cap to the week.

Filling my blog with entrees to my Reach Past Your Limits Challenge didn’t go as planned. Cue the crickets. Hopefully, I’ll learn from the experience, and peak the interest of a few people (someone? anyone?) next time.

Speaking of learning from my experiences, I shutdown my teespring.com store. I thought I’d done my due diligence in buying samples of everything I was selling through them.  While the fabric seemed fine and the printing looked great at first, the logo quickly started washing away on too many shirts. I never even thought that having a logo wash off was a “thing” with T-shirts. My mistake. However, I’m not giving up. I’m looking for opportunities to make T-shirts available at better prices with better printing! I’d be happy to hear from anyone who might be interested in a Reach Past Your Limits T-shirt for about $15. For now, call it market research. Expressing interest does not require you to buy anything nor guarantee that shirts will be available. Anyone who had problems with a teespring shirt should be able to get a refund through them. Contact me if you have problems and I may be able to help with the process.

The one good note I hit in my “professional” efforts was getting back to writing a sequel/re-boot of Super Crip. Clearly, I’ll never be a voluminous writer. I marvel at a guy like Stephen King, who cranks out work. After experiencing a bit of a writing funk, I’ve organized some of the bits and pieces I wrote quite a while ago and have done plenty of original writing. I’ve given myself a deadline of next Labor Day to have a draft.

By that time, I also hope to be cycling at a level that approaches what I was at two-and-a-half years ago. Rapidly approaching 50 with cerebral palsy (no matter how much I’d like to pump the brakes) is certainly the main culprit in what became a major decline in my physical abilities. But I also think trying a lot of new exercises in a short time played a role. For instance, changing to riding the upright bike instead of the recumbent never panned out. Of course, the shutdown “put the pedal to the metal” on my regression. I’m a long way from where I was before the decline started, but I am making progress.

Showing off the band-
aid covering where I
got my shot. I was fully
vaccinated in May.

Unfortunately, I’m fearful that progress is in jeopardy thanks to the unvaccinated. A mask policy has been reinstated at my Y. I’m beyond tired of the “geniuses” who won’t get vaccinated because it’s a “personal choice” and they “live in a free country” forcing those of us who took the steps to end the pandemic to deal with restrictions they make necessary. Not getting vaccinated is NOT a personal choice. It’s affecting everyone around you. Your so-called freedom is causing others to lose their freedom. That’s one of the most basic reasons we have government—so one person’s freedom doesn’t infringe on the freedom of others. I’ve worked damn hard to regain some of the mobility I lost in the shutdown. Now I’ll have to deal with a cumbersome face shield while working out, making everything more difficult, because of YOU.

GET VACCINATED!

As usual, I’m looking forward to fall. I like summer, but I’m ready for the weather to cool down and the sports calendar to heat up. Unfortunately, I don’t think my favorite sports teams will be offering much to get excited about. The Phillies continue to tease us despite what looked like a late season swoon in August after starting the month with an 8-game winning streak. Even if they reach the playoffs, it will likely be a short run. I’m not expecting much better from the Steelers this year. I just can’t get excited knowing an aging Ben Roethlisberger, who rarely gets through a season without injuries lately, is back at quarterback. Since I know some Eagles fans read this blog, I’ll just say I don’t think they’ll be providing any more excitement than Pittsburgh. Looking a little deeper into fall, the Sixers seem poised to open the season with Ben Simmons on the team. His recent demand to be traded doesn’t help the situation. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have one of your key players not want the ball in “crunch time” of playoff games as Simmons proved last season.

There are always the point spreads to keep me interested in football, and I don’t think global warming has completely taken away the cool breezes of fall just yet. I’ll keep seeking positivity, and hope readers do the same.