In just a few weeks, I will be celebrating my 60th Birthday. In honor of having reached this milestone, I will be writing a number of blogs in which I will be sharing stories about some of the people who have been a part of my journey and stories of events and places which have made an impact on my life over my 60 years of life.
I have often heard parents describe the experience of learning your child has a disability like an airplane trip. You’ve got your heart set on going to one destination, only to have the plane’s pilot announce in midflight that the plane’s destination has changed. Not only has the destination changed but, you soon find that you are now in a foreign country and unable to speak the language nor do you understand the customs and culture you are in to navigate. I have been blessed in my life to have traveled overseas and I can tell you that even when you are prepared for the trip there are moments when you will experience some level of culture shock and have language issues. This is the time you need a native speaker and someone who understands the culture and can help you understand things and to navigate.
It has always been difficult for me when people point out that I have achieved a lot in my 60 years of life. I will be the first to express that I didn’t learn this all on my own. I owe a great deal to others whose names and faces you would not know and whose commitment and sacrifices are not noticed.
The one person that had not only helped me and my parents to navigate this thing called Cerebral Palsy was a woman named Wilmuth Choate or “Choatie” as we kids called her. She was to us kids like a second parent and to our parents she was a guide and support when they had issues or questions. Choatie had an unshakable belief in our ability to accomplish any skill or goal. She would at times push us beyond what we thought we could do to show us our own abilities and to reach higher then we thought we could. Choatie could also be loving and kind when life got us down or we faced the unknown. Even when we entered grade school and were no longer going to the CP School as we called it. Choatie always had time to meet us and speak to us and give us some words of encouragement to continue on.
All these years later, I can still her voice in my head and remember what she instilled in me about life. To this day, I can not eat a piece of lemon drop candy without thinking about her. I guess it was fitting when Choatie had passed away at 92 years old our local newspaper wrote about her and spoke to how she had helped so many children and parents and it is why I must also write about her too.
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