Pillows, pillows everywhere, but still no sleep for me…

The following is a brief blog entry talking about my current “move status.” I have been in this new house and neighborhood for less than two weeks now. Sadly, I feel out of place. My socioeconomic background feels a little lower on the scale than my current neighborhood. I understand that most people will say that these feelings of mine are simply silly. However, I cannot change the way that I feel like a person changes their socks. I am cognizant of the fact that everyone has problems and issues. Naturally, that fact includes those in this neighborhood as well. I even realize that a few others in this neighborhood might feel the same way that I do. I just feel a little awkward and a bit out of place.

I feel like my life is like Sesame Street. “One of these kids is doing his own thing. Can you tell me which one before my song is done?” In this neighborhood, I feel like the only nickel in a pile of quarters. Sometimes I feel like the one clump of crabgrass in an otherwise blemish-free lawn.

I hear the freeway at night making sleep a challenge. However, when I am exhausted, I do sleep a bit more than “very little.” In the eleven days that I have been here, actual decent sleep has only occurred three times. The big-bad Marine side of me says: “Sleep? I don’t need no stinking sleep!” The MS side of me vehemently disagrees. I suppose that to get a good night’s sleep I should run around in the backyard to burn off some energy before bed. I know that the longer that I am here I will get used to the sounds both at night and the daytime. It’s just that sleep eludes my capture like trying to catch one leaf in a wind storm.

Now, if any of you are reading this blog and believe that I need a pet, then you don’t understand my wheelchair life. When you are in a wheelchair caring for a pet, a plethora of complications emerge. For example, I do not need a pet to run over or clean up after. Picking up a dog “mess” when he did not make it outside or trying to clean a litterbox are both challenging situations. These are just two of the many complications of having a pet while living in a wheelchair.

These are just my feelings currently. I know the saying that “time heals all.” I also know that this is merely a “speedbump” in life and that things will get better. It would help if things got better quickly. I think if I fall asleep in swim class and I drown they would frown upon that. If I’m not mistaken, you’re not even allowed to SAY the “D” word in the pool. I’m also afraid to know the “punishment” for falling asleep in church. Maybe they give you a holy water swirly? Or do they send you on a walk-through of the “bad place” reminding you to mind your P’s and Q’s? All in all, I have heard it a million times “it will get better.” I’m just tired of waiting. Get it? TIRED of waiting? OK, maybe I’m just getting a little “slap happy.”