My friend CJ, user name ulookarmless wrote a diary one night in February. I didn't know CJ at the time, but the title Losing the Ability to expres ,my self intrigued me enough to check it out. I read the diary (I hope you will, too) and then read all of his diaries. I discovered a man dealing with almost unimaginable health problems. A man who was supposed to be dead several years ago. A man who, it turns out, has the greatest joie de vivre of anyone I've ever known.
Mine isn't an isolated opinion, either. I sent a link to that February diary to a Kossack friend who wishes to remain anonymous, saying something like, "I've never met anyone like this before. What do you think?" Let's just say that shortly thereafter CJ received a just-released voice-recognition package which enabled him to communicate quickly and efficiently.
CJ and I began a correspondence in which (1) we became friends, and (2) I lured him onto the KosAbility Team. You can judge for yourself what kind of a person he is - and what an asset he is to this community - by reading his diary Myths of the Disabled, which contains quite a bit of biographical detail. You won't find photos of this one-armed man shooting baskets with his son in the driveway ... but they exist. I've seen them. You won't read the hundreds and hundreds of poems he's written - and illustrated! - but I'll be glad to send you a selection. You won't see him chopping and sauteing and dancing and laughing in his kitchen, either, but that's CJ's life, taking whatever day he wakes up with and wringing the life out of it.
One of CJ's passions is U.S. politics. He's been in the states for, I think, almost fifteen years, and while his efforts to become a citizen had to be put on the back burner due to cancer and subsequent poverty, he knows the Constitution better than I do. If you read his diaries you'll find a poem lashing Pat Buchanan, many efforts to move health care reform along, something Tweety should read, an NFTT diary, a diary of poems for the April Fools pootie caper, and an active and wise comment history throughout the KosAbility series.
Late Sunday morning I received an email from CJ's teenage son who spends every weekend with his Dad. They had cooked and eaten breakfast and were walking to the grocery store to get supplies for the weekend when CJ had to stop and sit down on a bench. He rested for a bit, then tried to go on. Long story short, his son called an ambulance - thankfully - and CJ was taken to the hospital with crushing chest pains. He remains there today, on a telemetry unit, still having terrible pain but expressing great joy and good humor whenever friends call.
What do you say we wrap this guy up in some friendship and good wishes? Sara R posted a community quilt for ulookarmless diary last night. Will you go there and leave a comment for his quilt? If you don't have the $5 for the square, I'll cover you. I know several people who've received Sara's quilts, and they all agree there's magic in them. Sara needs at least ten more squares.
Our friend ulookarmless could use some magic right about now. ♥