Life is crazy!

Life is crazy. Some days just spin out of control, despite our best laid plans. Like this painting. I had a plan for it when I started, but it clearly took on a life of its own. The paint just went berserk, resisting all my efforts to control where the colors went.

Earlier this winter, I had a day that turned out like that. I had a long list of errands and spent the day out running around in the cold Washington rain doing boring everyday things. Late in the day, anxious to get home to my fireplace and a favorite book, I made one last stop.

My plan was to spend a few minutes watching a local sporting event, to support a friend. Turns out, the teams were short of players, and I was drafted. Soon, I found myself right in the thick of a game of – wait for it - wheelchair basketball. The game was rowdy, boisterous, filled with shouts and laughter, as about 18 wheelchairs raced from one end of the court to the other. The players were a mix of young and old, big and small, able-bodied and disabled. There were many poignant sights: a storage room full of sport-style wheelchairs, and in the gym, a pile of protheses discarded in a corner because, for this brief evening, they weren’t needed.

Of course, the best part of the event was the people; the man with one leg who helped me find a wheelchair that fit, the young black woman who soon became my partner in midcourt.

I learned so many things that evening: 1) perhaps I do still have some upper body strength, 2) sport-style wheelchairs are remarkably maneuverable, 3) time does truly fly when you’re having fun, 4) fun is important. And perhaps the best lesson (reminder, actually): doing something for others is the best thing we can do for ourselves.