Checking In

My goodness, it has been a long time since I checked in with you all!

Things have been quite good for the most part as we learn to craft a new life out of spinal cord injury. Todd is carving a ton and creating many different kinds of animals and he is loving it. His work has never been better as he pays more attention to fine detail carving. I will post a few of his latest in case anyone wants to order a piece.

Todd’s nerve burning pain has increased considerably but being distracted in his shop helps immensely. He has weaned himself off most of the drugs and is managing well, maybe even better. Drugs and chainsaws don’t mix anyway!

He manages to creatively figure out how to do more and more around the homestead property, often using his power wheelchair footplates as a tow motor. He is walking a lot, with a cane and even walking freestyle with no aids, but still has a long way to go towards better balance and safety. Of course, we are also bike riding and the big news is that we are planning on returning to the Great American Rail Trail in early May, hoping to cover all of Illinois and Iowa. We are excited! If you haven’t signed up to receive my blog posts before this, please do so—www.cindyrosstraveler.com and you can follow along. If anyone wants to help support this endeavor, always appreciated.

I have been very busy working on my manuscript on Todd’s recovery and “The Making of a Caregiver.” I have an interested publisher but they want to see the entire book before presenting me with a contract. My goal is to finish by Black Friday—Todd’s 5-year anniversary of his fall, or by the end of the year. I have been writing a lot of magazine articles about accessible nature and taking Todd with me on press trips for magazine articles. The tourism folks have been very gracious to accommodate his disability needs.

We have also been gravel bike riding on dirt and gravel roads around the state–state forest lands mostly as we do research for magazine stories. Todd has a fat tire gravel trike with a throttle that gets him up hills which widened our places to ride– beyond the rail trail. Trying hard to create more joy in our lives.

Besides working with our veterans at River House, my non-profit, we have begun to work with some homeless veterans in the Harrisburg area who live in tiny homes. We traveled down to teach them to garden in their raised beds and hosted them a few times to our homestead and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. One said in relation to Todd’s spinal cord injury, “Man, we have NOTHING to complain about.” It’s all perspective. Good for all of us to be in one another’s company and learn something like gratitude.

The love of our lives is our two grandsons, Kieran and Felix, whom we get to see once a month as we drive down to southern Virginia to see them every chance we get. They are 1 and 3 years old right now.

Todd is the happiest he has been since that terrible day 5 years ago. It takes a long time to grieve and accept and find a new way to live. Our friends and family have helped us so much along the way. We have been reminded of that which we already knew, there is nothing greater than love in this world, and we are certainly blessed. We love and appreciate you all.