A thing as simple as a handshake.....

Without giving it much thought, many people treat the disabled very poorly. I've been keeping track of those things here. But dear readers, if you're not sure how to treat a recently disabled person I can give you the simple answer right here. We want to be treated just like everybody else. We might not be like everyone else, but we just crave that moment where we can be treated like everybody else.

There's a moment that stands out of my mind. And is one thing that everyone in my world does. We shake hands.

Shaking hands is a little scary for me. Sometimes you do it to someone who you just met in my disability isn't always that apparent and my healing has been the slowest in my wrists and hands. So, shaking hands is somewhat of a challenge to me. The world might value a good firm handshake, but I only have the opposite.

To the left is a picture of my right hand. There are two important things you should know. First it basically looks the same when I try to make a fist or when I try to open all the way, so that's the thing I stick out when people are shaking hands. Second, that hand is actually working a lot better than the left hand so give me a round of applause for being able to hold my phone with my left hand and then take that picture. I actually had to tap the screen with my nose.

When someone takes my hand to shake it the pinky and the next two figures often do not straighten out. So sometimes I think the person I am shaking hands with things I'm trying to tickle them. But no one ever giggles when I shake their hand.

So, with the Thanksgiving holiday winding down, I've interacted with a lot more people in the last week. And it occurs to me now that I'm thankful for all the people who shook my hand.