I FELL DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE INTRODUCTION

Hit The Rewind Button

My mom loved to tell people the story of my birth. She once regaled my birth story to aa salesperson at Macy's. I was mortified. In my head, I was imploring her to stop. We were just there to buy Christmas socks for my brother. How had an innocent trip to the mall gone wrong?  

Imagine having a guy you liked over for dinner only to have your mom launch into her story. All I heard was, "Joanne was born at six and a half months. She was so small that the hospital didn't weigh her when she was born. She looked like a spider monkey, all arms and legs." What an icebreaker. MOM STOP!!

HIT THE REWIND BUTTON!

Wouldn't it be awesome if life had a rewind button?  I'd give anything to have the ability to press a button and go back in time and fix my most embarrassing moments as well as my mistakes.  How far back? Probably birth. I  have screwed up a lot.

For as long as I can remember every new experience has been like falling down a rabbit hole leaving me confused and asking myself the question how did I get here?  Just like Alice in Wonderland.  My wonderland is having been born a spastic quad. The most severe form of cerebral palsy. It has been an amazing, scary, confusing, and wild ride. It has been my life. 

I want to leave a positive legacy. I have a lot to say. The problem is, I feel like no one is listening 

I decided to write my memoir in a series of entries.  A mini journal of significant events in my life. Beginning on April 19, 1957, the day I was born. Clearly a momentous occasion. At least in my own mind, anyway.

In the late 1950s, the Americans with Disabilities Act was not even a glimmer in someone's eye. I want to share my story of what my life was like growing up without the ADA. I want to examine how I came to live first in a nursing home. now in a group. I want to show what my life was/is like. My hope is that a young person with a disability reading my memoir entries will realize how fortunate they are to have the ADA. My hope is that they will learn from my mistakes.

Sit back and relax as I get ready to push the rewind button on my life. Get ready to fall down the rabbit hole with me.