Ohhh man, I love to read!!! I have so many books that I love, I don’t think I could pick just one.
Honestly, I have read a lot. I suppose one that comes to mind when asked about significant books would be the Christopher Reeve book “Still Me”
I read that book a very long time ago, but it was a book that I could easily relate too.
I remember it was April 1995, and Paul and I were sitting in a Burger King in Brampton Ont. awaiting a court date. On the news, as we sat there having some breakfast it had announced that Christopher Reeves had been injured and sustained a spinal cord injury. It was predicted that he would be paralyzed from the neck down. He was in hospital doing tests, needed a breathing tube, conscious but in serious condition.
Ironically at that time, literally one month earlier I was in a car accident which resulted in my infant son sustaining a C2 Spinal Cord Injury. As we sat there in Burger King, watching the news about Christoper Reeves lying in a hospital bed unable to move anything below his neck, our son was in the exact same state. Our little 16 month old baby was lying in an ICU hospital room in Hamilton Ont. with my parents who were “babysitting” him while I had been subpoenaed to court.
I would not have imagined leaving him there that day, he was still in grave condition. I did try to get out of the court that day but it was a very serious situation and I didn’t want to let the little girl down who I was testifying for. You see, about 5 months prior to my accident a little girl in my preschool classroom had told me her father had touched her in places he wasn’t suppose too. It shattered my world. I could not believe I was hearing this. My heart broke for her. Her mother did press charges, and I was one of the witnesses.
I had to be there. I just hated leaving Braden at the hospital, although I knew he was in good hands. We had the best nurses and my parents were there with him. Luckily the crown attorney took my statement and let me leave. I didn’t have to stay, they felt terrible about my circumstances and let me go.
On this day however, I remember not feeling so alone. As sad as i had felt for Superman, I had finally not been alone. The news was spreading and Spinal Cord Injuries became in the forefront. The world was quickly learning about Spinal Cord Injury.
Still Me was a book that helped me accept our fate. It gave me permission to laugh at things that not many would even consider laughing at. The book gave me insight on how Braden may be feeling eventually as a young man with a spinal cord injury. It gave me some hope for his future and it allowed me to be angry.
I’m not sure if it was my favourite book, but I can say it was the book with the biggest impact and the book that I could relate to the most. I’m sad he has passed, Christopher Reeves was more than Superman to me he was hope~
Well my lovelies, until tomorrow good night and god bless~
The Grace In Grief 