A Rock and A Hard Place

This week Crip Guy does some extreme sports. Do you like rock climbing, dark humor, helmets, and profanity? I am happy with how the hands turned out. I hope you like it. Now it’s time for some inspirational falling metaphors. I think it’s appropriate considering this week’s comic.

First some background information I have something called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Basically, all the muscles in my body get weaker as I get older. This means that at one point I was able to walk, breathe, and be annoyingly good at video games (the important things). The transition from walking to a wheelchair was unsteady for me. Before I got my first wheelchair I would fall at least once a day. I think this makes me an expert in falling. If you have any disease questions, message me or leave a comment, nothing is off-limits. I can't do much but I can be uncomfortably honest. Alright back to falling.

Sometimes you fall and it barely hurts. You get right back up and continue on your way. Other times you hit the ground hard, your knees get bloody maybe, you break a wrist and a leg by landing on your brother from your wheelchair (relatable?). During a time like that, it might seem impossible to get back up. To be honest, sometimes a fall like that can take your ability to get up by yourself. I talk a lot about other people in my writing. One of the reasons probably has something to do with needing help with everything in my life. It took me a while to realize that not everyone that helps you physically can help you get up after you fall.


Luckily, I have always had a few people in my life to get me up after I fall (thank you). The other reason is I learned from an early age that in order to accomplish anything I would need other people to help me. I think there might be an easier way to learn these lessons than a terminal disease. My main point is it’s ok to fall and not be able to get up by yourself, I can’t get up by myself (that doesn’t make me feel better). You might be thinking he has an excuse. To this, I say I have never taken the excuse (unless it was funny). I have always expected more out of myself than what a crappy disease says I must accept. This is probably one of my many personal flaws. There is a good chance that I will never be able to help you physically but if you ever need help getting up again after you fall, I will do everything I can to be there. It might just be a kind word and a dumb comic (that’s all I got). I am proud of you no matter how hard you have fallen crips and non-crips. Until next time I believe in you.

Location: Rochester, NY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023: A year in review

Image
Do you like recap episodes, flashbacks, and trying to look for the bright side in life? If you said yes to any of those questions you are in the right place. You should still read even if you said no. I need that Dopamine hit from your approval (he's mostly kidding, I think). Well, that break was longer than I had been planning. My last post was in August and maybe life caught up with me. It's one thing to say you will fight for as long as you can it's another thing to actually live it. When I first started writing these posts it was almost a compulsion. I couldn't stop writing. Crip Guy came from maybe the worst time in my life. The only control I had was writing. And that writing was dark and sad. I'm never sharing those journal entries at least while I am alive. I recently re-read those Journals and I am glad to say I am not in that same headspace. I can't say I feel 100% as you can tell from my post schedule(wait you are still a writer?). What I want to say
Read more

A Shut-Ins story

Image
Do you like short stories, music fests, crip pics, and the Shut-Ins? The Shut-Ins played the Fairport Music Fest 23' and like usual they were amazing. The set was punctuated by a bunch of original music. I love that they are writing their music and hope they continue. The first show I saw of the Shut-Ins was a year ago at the same festival with Megan. This year I got to see the band with my mom, Mary, and my best friend Jacob. It was great we had some kombucha and Italian pretzels. If you go to FBC (Fairport) trust me and get those pretzels, I could eat a whole bag by myself.  It was outside and packed. The scent of the grill could be smelled wafting through the air (wafting...wow good word). This might be my last outside concert this year and I was glad I was able to spend it with the Shut-Ins.  Now this wouldn't be a crip guy story without some "interesting" interactions with people. The first part of this story was uplifting to the human spirit and the second made
Read more

Loss part 2

Image
This week I dedicate my post to my friend Laura, who passed away a few weeks ago. Her favorite color was pink so I painted a pink flower for this week's illustration. It doesn't feel real that she is gone. I posted a few weeks ago on her CaringBridge that if it would help I would have given up my wheelchair. When my friend Andrew passed away I wrote that he didn't lose his fight against Duchenne he finished it and I think the same thing applies to Laura. I didn't think I would write another post about loss this soon. I have been procrastinating on this post, hard. Sometimes in not constructive ways. It's a sad and painful one for me to write. This little corner of the muscular dystrophy community seems to have been hit hard in the last few years, especially in the previous few weeks (f#%k muscular dystrophy). You will understand why in a minute. I will try to give a general overview before I start. During May, I lost two friends with forms of muscular dystrophy Andr
Read more