2007-08-28 - 8:57 a.m.
Last Wednesday, I went to an orientation meeting for UIC. Sunday we had a cookout on our building’s back deck (it’s so cool that there even is one!), partly to mark the end of summer, partly to celebrate a milestone that Nya’s reached, and partly to send me off well to my next phase in life.
I have my first class this afternoon. Maybe starting graduate school isn’t as big a deal as starting college. But it’s kind of a big deal to me. When I first started college at 18, I wasn’t sick. When I started again at 28, I knew I had MS, but it wasn’t really apparent to others. Now it’s pretty blindingly obvious that I’m in a wheelchair.
I know using a chair isn’t that big a deal. Much of this very blog is about me realizing that being sick doesn’t mean now I’m not the same person I’ve always been. I’m still smart, still curious, still a rock’n’roll boy. There were other students (and professors) in wheelchairs at the orientation meeting.
So it really shouldn’t be much of an issue. I think maybe what I’m actually nervous about is just the going back to school thing. It’s funny; it’s only been a couple years. But it feels like forever. I feel like I’ve lived a whole lifetime here in Chicago with Nya. It’s been beautiful though. I’ve been so happy.
I need to start thinking that this is a new part of my happy life now. I’ll say it now to head off future worries: it’s gonna be alright.
Wish me luck.
© 2007 Geoff Gladstone
If you’ve ever enjoyed my writing, please donate to the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis and/or the Montel Williams MS Foundation.
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