Having a great journey! Wish you were here. Of course, you are on your own journey. How has it been?

My journey has been an amazing, soul stirring-deep-down-in-the-gut-reaching adventure. Sometimes people suggest that being paralyzed must have been a really tough challenge – and it was. Then I wonder where they have been paralyzed and maybe didn't even know it. Being unable to move forward in ways you really want to move can be a tougher challenge in some ways than physical paralysis. At least I had the focus and attention of professional staff, a supportive husband and friends to help me get “un-paralyzed” and now I am here to help you – if you want me to.

So, how about you? Do you feel paralyzed in some way that is keeping you from moving to your next level of accomplishment? What is stopping you from moving forward right now? That is as real a form of paralysis as you can get and it is as disabling as any physical handicap; but the good news is, it can be overcome

In January, news came from New Zealand that my grandmother died. She would have been 99 years old at the end of the month – nearly an entire century! As I sat quietly thinking of her, I realized she had dealt with her own disability all her life. Grandma was deaf. As a child, I simply and comfortably accepted that she couldn’t hear. That was just how Grandma was. I never thought of it as a “hardship” to accommodate her by abbreviating every sentence to one or two words to communicate. She was worth it! Every day at 3 p.m. was time with Grandma; a cup of tea and cream cakes or pike lets (pancakes) with a scoop of fresh whipped cream on top and dab of raspberry jam. Many times Grandma would take my sister and me to a hi-tea at the Savoy (much like a Ritz Carlton). Grandma was one classy lady. That is how I saw her and that is how I remember her. I did not see her as “handicapped,” “disabled,” "sick" or "an invalid." She led a simple but powerfully influential life.

I have often wondered what it would be like to live as long as did Grandma. What if I lived from now to 99, focused and steadily moving; doing the things I want to do – not held back by paralysis, physical or otherwise? How would my life look? How many will I have influenced?

How about you? What if you live to be 99? What if you live even the next 10 years freed from whatever paralysis keeps you from doing the things you want to do, to serve and grow? What good will you do? What power and joy – even if in a wheelchair – will you feel when your journey has been a daily experience of moving past paralysis into ever- expanding levels of being and ever-widening circles of influence? How will those whose lives you have blessed celebrate your life?

The accomplishments of January are dedicated to my grandmother with gratitude for all that her experience in life inspires in me. I will miss her dearly, even though we were miles apart I thought of her often.

This article is from the February 7, 2005 issue of “A Postcard from Kate’s Journey.”

This is an excerpt from “A Postcard From Kate’s Journey,” Feb 7, 2005.

Visit Kate’s website.