I’ve had some fun partying with other women in wheelchairs before (Steff, Kelly…you know who you are), but never at a posh hotel overflowing with free booze, and never with a sparkly crown in my midst. That was the scene last week when I visited Ms. Wheelchair America 2010 Erika Bogan at the Handi Medical Expo in downtown St. Paul, MN.
I showed up expecting to finally meet my amazing online friend, and maybe grab dinner with her. Nothing more. Instead, we were treated to an open bar, comped martinis and even a chocolate fountain (thank you Handi and Colours!). Ms. Wheelchair America of course abstained from drinking more than a woman of her title should. But me? I’m a freelance writer with no qualms about my rep. I drank her share and mine. And before I knew it, memories of my awful hospital stay two weeks prior (Pneumonia) were nothing but a fleeting memory. White wine and rhinestones are a magical combination, what can I say.
I’ve always maintained, since breaking my damn neck and finding myself a life-long user of a wheelchair (believe me it’s not as bad as it sounds, really), that it’s so so important to be friends with other people who know what it’s like to be you - a full-time wheelchair user, and everything that means.
I especially think it’s important they be the same sex as you. Having peers who are actually your peers (able-bodied people don’t count) is critical to being human. I don’t know why, it just is. And hanging with the quintessential “girl next door,” Erika Bogan, and Kristi Allen (pictured right), another faboosh woman with a SCI from South Dakota, was just what my soul needed.
Thank you, ladies. <3 <3
- Aric
and Michael: A Story of Friendship
- The
Key of G - An Extraordinary Film and an Extraordinary Life
- Ms.
Wheelchair America Races Autocross
