My new view from here

There was a man in my home town of Springdale that wrote a column called ‘The view from here’. He was the principal of the high school that I went to and then had a severe accident which left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair.

I confess that I didn’t know him well but was impressed that he kept on living the best way that he could and kept writing his column.

Now that I’m learning myself what it’s like to be in a wheelchair, I too have a different view of things. Not only a different view on life, but actually a different view of the things that I see in front of me. I’ve taken some photographs of how things look for me from this perspective and thought I would share them.

I come to this park most days to read and to write and sometimes put my head back and sleep. In fact, I am writing from the park right now.

I also often come here for social gatherings such as the one in this picture which is a celebration with some of my family of my brother-in-law Logan’s birthday.

I felt the need to post a blocked sidewalk as well just to show away I often ride on the streets instead of the sidewalk.

My favourite place on the planet, a holy place to me where I feel God‘s presence all around me, is a place down the street from where I grew up called Oxford’s lower place. I have a wonderful picture of it on my wall which I see each and every day of my life.

It brings me comfort.

And hope.

   

I often take the subway and the bus in order to get where I need to go. This is what it looks like from my perspective. One of my favourite things about this wheelchair is that there is an odometer on it which tells me as of this point in time that I have gone 4134 kms.

Sometimes I get in the van with Erinn and we go out and about. This is my view as we drive around.

We did some work on the house as I have mentioned previously. This is what it looks like from my point of view.

One of the friends that I made when I was living in the apartment while we were renovating my basement is a guy that pretty much knows every musician around. (He, Michael Wrycraft, just designed Bruce Cockburn's 50th anniversary box set record cover which I'd highly recommend) He invited some musician friends over for a balcony concert which I went to. This was my view. It was lovely to hear some live music again.

I like to sit on my front porch from time to time as well just to watch the world go by. It’s also a great spot to be to chat with the neighbours as they go by.

I love to go to the art gallery with Erinn. We even have a membership there. The Group of 7 are my fave.

So all that to say, my new actual view has changed significantly and my new view of life continues to evolve;

Hopefully for the better...

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