I Am

Finally. I was not the token wheelchair guy in the room. The scene? A national conference in Atlanta focused on the study of disabilities. The audience? Wonderfully diverse. Riding in one of the elevators after sessions on the first morning, I was joined by four other...

Struggling to See

I like to sit on the picnic tables by Double Bluff Beach on Whidbey Island, a place I can’t easily access, and watch Leslie walk with Gus. We tend to leave Seattle at dawn on these ventures and catch the first ferry over. I take books and my ledgers and pens. Leslie...
The Time It Takes

The Time It Takes

I’m buying chicken frames at Uwajimaya, my grocery store of choice in the International District. A fellow shopper at the butcher counter asks, “What do you do with those?” “I use them for chicken stock,” I answer. She looks incredulous....

Thems the Breaks

I’m not so proud of the clunky hospital wheelchair I first rented on a monthly basis until, to my horror, I realized I owned it outright. Leslie had a melt-down when I admitted my mistake. How could I not know? In the middle of our ensuing fight, I remember...