Sound of Surviving Blog

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Cape May for a long weekend with four of my friends. The five of us had started planning this trip back in May. In the middle of June, I broke my foot, and wasn’t completely sure until the end of July that I’d even be able to go. I asked my friends what they thought, and they all agreed that if I wanted to go, they would help me with what I needed. Even up to the day of the trip, I was still so nervous about going and whether I’d be able to do everything to take care of myself while I was there. The day we left, my mom drove me down, just in case the place my friends and I booked wasn’t accessible, I’d have someone to drive me home.

Although I couldn’t go to the beach or the tiny shops in the area we were staying in, my friends and I had a really great time. We went to eat and to the Cape May winery on Friday, all the while, they were pushing me in my wheelchair and lifting it in and out of the trunk of the car like it was no big deal. On Saturday morning, one of my friends had said she wanted to try this breakfast place nearby. She had looked it up, and it said they were handicap and wheelchair-accessible. However, when we got there, although they had handicap parking, the tables inside were all high-tops. They offered to bring another table at first, then ten minutes later, came back to say they didn’t have anything lower. Not even giving it a second thought, every one of the girls I was with decided they didn’t want to eat there unbegrudgingly, simply because of the fact that the restaurant wasn’t ADA compliant. As I apologized to them on the way out, without even blinking an eye, my one friend stated that the restaurant was ridiculous for not being fully accessible, and that she wanted to give it bad Google and online reviews.

On Sunday morning, once we packed up our things and were heading out, one of my friends asked if I wanted to drive up to the beach entrance near the house, just to be able to see it before we left. I did, but when we got there, all of the handicap spots were taken. One of the girls did a quick search on her phone and found a spot where we could park and walk on a paved path right by the ocean nearby. When we got there, they all waited patiently while I took pictures of the ships and boats going by and took in the amazing views of the ocean. Afterwards, we went to grab coffee and to the Cape May Brewery. And then we left to go home.

It doesn’t sound like much, but to someone who hasn’t been out of her house in over a month, has a chronic illness, and disabilities, it was the best vacation ever. My point of telling you this, is that make sure you surround yourself with people who will be there for you in the difficult times, as well as the good ones. Surround yourself with people who will stick up for you, no matter what happens. A lot of girls I know wouldn’t want to be pushing a wheelchair around or arranging their plans around whether or not places are ADA compliant or wheelchair accessible on their summer vacation, but my friends, thankfully are not like most girls our age. None of them batted at an eye when I needed help, or made me feel like I was a burden for needing it. So, my advice is this: surround yourself with good people, good friends, and make sure you hold on tight to them, and never take them for granted.