37. Parties, Pools and Parrots

I have been doing lots of fun things lately. Here's some of what I've been doing.

I went with my family to the wedding of my friend, my parents' godson. It was great to make it, seeing as I've known him my whole life. I stood for all the standing parts of the wedding, which was in Hammersmith.  Everything at the reception had so much effort put into it, with beautiful decorations. There was a ceileih I didn't join in with, despite offers to spin me around in my wheelchair.

I also went to Birmingham for a gap year reunion. (As part of Action Teams program of BMS World Misson, I was in a team with two other girls, where we worked in a school in Mizoram, a state in North East India.) Whilst there had been about 30 other young people in teams in my 2015/16 year group, this reunion was for Action Teamers for the last 10 years, so about 60 people were there. Everything had been made very accessible for me, and I was given the chance to share some of my story one evening. It was a great way of catching up with many people, who I probably wouldn't have seen individually, at the same time. There were some valiant wheelchair pushers who braved pushing me to a bonfire.

Yesterday, the physio, Dee, and Becca, the occupational therapist assistant, took me to the swimming pool. The main counter was closed, so we went to a counter which was so high, I couldn't see the person sitting behind it from my seated position. Dee explained that she and Becca wanted to take one of their residents to use the pool. The receptionist blandly said we'd need to get a carer card by applying online. I clocked on she probably didn't realise I was sitting right there, so I stretched up and waved, "I'm here!" She changed her tune and let me pay to use the pool, whilst the other two got in free as my carers as a one off. I gave my new friend a big "Thank you!" as we left, and she said goodbye benevolently. Smile and wave.

To get in the pool, I was sat on a little wheeled chair, which was lifted up by a literal chair-lift, rather like a small forklift. It lifted me up and I was slowly swung over the water, then it lowered me down into the water. It was the kids' pool, so the shallow end was 0.9m. Dee and Becca were fine, both about a head shorter than me, but I was told to try and stop wobbling when I stood. Not my fault I'm about 1.7m. I did some walking in the water, as well as some supported swimming on my back. At the end, I had my splash time. We all ended up joining in. I think splashing is a bit infectious.

I've also been taken on an outing, kind of like a school trip, but really not. The staff at my centre recently took 3 other residents and me to visit Tropical Birdland in Desford, Leicestershire. I think the staff were more excited than we were. It's like the zoo, but just birds. This was actually a great trip, as it wasn't very long, and was very inclusive. At the end of the visit there's a free-for-all where the parrots aren't caged, and you can handle them. An incident form did have to be filled out as a parrot started chewing at a resident's mouth, and took some small chunks out of his ears. At one point, I managed to have 3 parrots on me at once. I was thrilled, even if they did destroy my hoodie string.

So I can always remember it.