Blown Away

When we first created this blog, Kyle said he did not want to use it for political discussions or rants. However, Kyle and I are both on the same page about the Iraq war and since it is OUR blog, I feel the need to vent.

Let me start of by saying that I was against the Iraq war from the get go. Kyle on the other hand was not. I just never believed that there were any WMDs. My gut just told me that what the government was telling us wasn’t matching up. I also felt that Bush wanted to finish his father’s business and find a way to do away w/ Saddam. Anyway, I won’t write too much on the specifics of that but to bring everyone up to speed on our current views, we are both completely against the war and Kyle has been against the war for several years now. We both feel deceived and that we, the American people were brought into this war under false pretenses.

Ok, I’ll tie the Iraq war thoughts above in a little later but first I need to digress. Be patient my friends!! So last night there was NOTHING on TV. Before I turned the TV off I figured I’d check PBS first. I came across this documentary called, “So Much So Fast” about this 29 year old guy from MA that has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. I was glued to the TV. My favorite book is Tuesday’s with Morrie and it is about a man who has ALS. I love the book not just because Morrie rocks but because he made a conscious decision to talk about the fact that he was dying. Morrie believed, as I do, that the subject of death is taboo in our culture and he wanted to change that. Anyway, read the book to learn more but my bud Morrie-the bottom line is that I learned more about ALS from the book and seeing Morrie on Ted Coppell’s show Nightline. On a side note, when I was in grad school they offered a course on death and dying and they showed the 3 Nightline shows that Morrie was on. So, I watched this documentary last night and it was amazing. This young guy, Stephen was diagnosed with early onset ALS and his two brothers and family started a foundation to find a cure for ALS. Unfortunately, Stephen died in 2006 and there is still no cure for the devastating disease. The documentary was just sooooo moving and I was left w/ this strong sense of what people can do when they feel passionate about something. Stephen’s family raised millions of dollars in the hopes of curing ALS and really brought a great deal of education to the subject of ALS. Anyway, if you have time check out this documentary as you can watch it online. It is well worth your time. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/somuchsofast/view/

So, even though I wanted to tell you all about Stephen and the documentary b/c I was so incredibly moved by it, that is actually not what I’m posting about. I called my mom this morning to tell her about this documentary b/c my mom is a huge PBS fan and it is basically all she watches. Whenever I see something on PBS that I absolutely love I have to call my mom to see if she’s seen it too so we can discuss it. Our conversations typically go something like this”

“Hi Mom, Oh My Gosh, Did you see Frontline last night?”
“Yes, Cait wasn’t it unbelievable?”

My mom gets so excited when one of her kids watches PBS. My sister Maura and she share the bond of PBS mysteries. Don’t even think about calling one of them when a British PBS mystery series is on. Ok, anyway my mom didn’t see, “So Much So Fast” she saw another amazing show on Bill Moyers, which was on before my documentary. My mom raved so much about her show that I decided to log onto PBS and watch it. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05302008/profile2.html

Ok, in a nutshell here is what it is about:

A 24 year old man from Kansas City signs up for the Army, 3 days after 9/11. He was shot and paralyzed less than a week into his tour of duty. They decided to make a documentary film called “Body of War” about his experience. Three years in the making, BODY OF WAR tells the poignant tale of the young man's journey from joining the service after 9/11 to fight in Afghanistan, to living with devastating wounds after being deployed to Iraq instead. Here is the link to the movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZuQkITY64

I can’t wait to see the movie. I urge all of you to click on the link above and watch the Bill Moyer’s show about this veteran and the making of the movie about him. I watched it this afternoon and I am just speechless. As a person with a physical disability, specifically paralysis, I understand what this veteran goes through on a daily basis. It is hard enough to adjust to a permanent disability but when that disability was essentially caused because our government lied us into a war that we should not have gotten into in the first place, it just infuriates me to know end.

I am very aware of the steps towards accepting one’s disability. The firm touches on this because the individual followed was injured in Iraq and has to come home and come to terms w/ his disability. Regarding my own situation, I think it was easier for me to accept that I was permanently disabled b/c I owned up to my own responsibility. I was a young kid that was drinking when I should not have been. I don’t think I’m totally unique in that I drank too much before I was 21, but I have to accept responsibility for my actions and I believe I’ve done that. The bottom line is, if I was sober I most likely would not have wound up paralyzed but who’s to say it wasn’t in God’s plan and that it may have just happened at another time? I’ll never know. What I do know is that I’m dealing with the cards I was dealt and with time I’ve learned to accept my hand. After my accident, I also felt so lucky to be alive. When you come so close to death you learn to appreciate life more deeply. I have always felt that I would rather be alive w/ a disability than dead. Like Dana Reeve said to Christopher when he was first injured, “You are still you.” So, those of us with spinal cord injuries all have our stories. Some were completely innocent bystanders and some weren’t. But when your government sends you to war under false pretenses and you come back permanently disabled, that just isn’t right. I know life isn’t fair. Believe me, I know that. I just am utterly speechless after watching this video. I also LOVE the Eddie Vedder song “NO More” that was written for this documentary. You can hear it on this site: http://www.bodyofwarmusic.com/

The lyrics are just so powerful. Also check out the guys wheels on his wheelchair and notice how the axles are a peace sign. Pretty cool and symbolic at the same time.

I know that the majority of Americans are against the war. I don’t want to get into a political discussion about IRAQ. I do want people to realize that among the 3,000 plus deaths we’ve had in IRAQ & Afghanistan we’ve had about 8 times the number of injuries i.e. traumatic brain injuries, amputations and spinal cord injuries to name a few. We don’t hear much about the disabled vets coming back and there certainly are an over abundance of them.

I really hope this post will convince at least a couple of our loyal readers to watch the Bill Moyers show (linked above) and even go a step further and go see Body of War. It isn’t playing near me but I noticed it is coming to Athens, GA so all my bulldog pals, go see it!!!

Words can’t express how much this show moved me. Perhaps it is because I know how hard it is to live life w/ paralysis. I have always said that I wished I was the last person to sustain a spinal cord injury b/c it is such a hard and traumatic thing to overcome and it is so painfully hard on families as well. I’m not sure that I’m articulating my feelings as well as I wish. Please watch the clip and it will at least give you a small bit of insight into the destruction that this war has caused. Thanks guys!

Happy Anniversary-A few days late!

This past Sunday marked our 5th wedding anniversary. My plan was to post 5 pictures from our wedding day for our 5th anniversary but I'm having problems with some of our wedding photos. I was only able to upload 4 photos. When I uploaded some of them they were way too small. So, I decided to just post the ones that came out correctly. These pictures are not the professionals but rather the ones that family & friends took for us and later emailed us.

Too bad Kyle's head is cut off in this shot. This is when we were first introduced as Mr & Mrs.

This shot was taken outside the church. We have a framed copy in our bedroom from my sister Megan.

This was a shot taken @ the head table @ the reception w/ Kyle's best man Brother-In-Law, Jay, and my maid of honor, my sister Maura.

This is one of my favorite pictures from our special day. It is w/ our 4 nieces that were all in our wedding. I love how they are all huddled around me. Since then, we have one more niece Michaela.

On our anniversary we went to dinner @ a fabulous restaurant called The Scarlet Oak tavern, formally known as the Whiton House where my mother was the manager for close to 20 years . Check out the link for pictures.

http://www.scarletoaktavern.com/

For those of you that are fascinated by ghosts like Kyle & I, you'll be pleased to know that Kyle asked one of the waitresses if the ghost had made an recent appearances and he has!! Kyle was very pleased!

Anyway, we had a great meal & a wonderful day. We both can't believe how fast these years have passed. We are very blessed to have found each other.

My Sister Megan is Awesome!!

This weekend my sister Meg completed the Breast cancer Avon walk. We are all really proud of her and I wanted to post a few pics of it. We watched my niece Lauren on Saturday and on Sunday we went to support Meg as she crossed the finished line. We made a sign and cheered her on. It was such an inspiring event to witness all these amazing people do such an awesome thing. My mom and I were really bummed that we forgot to wear pink.

The first picture is Meg w/ her hubby and two of her three kids. My mom is to her left. My mother's sister died of breast cancer at age 37 so my mom was very proud of her daughter for doing this. My nephew's sign says," My mom is awesome." How adorable is that? The sign Lauren, Kyle & I made says, " Hip Hip Hooray."

On Saturday night we took Lauren to a Japanese Steak House for her 10th b-day. We allowed her to pick the restaurant and she absolutely Loves the place we went to. It was our first time there and what an amazing experience it was. Below are a few shots.

How cool is this shot below? In case you've never been to a Japanese Steak house, they cook the food right in front of you. Not only was this an amazing cultural experience it was also extremely entertaining and our chef was SO hilarious!

Lauren with her Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri

Here is the 4 of us. Can you tell how happy little Lauren is? She was so happy to share her favorite meal w/ her grandma, and Kyle & I.

I love this shot. I have such a soft spot in my heart for this little munchkin. She's a disability advocate in the making! She's always looking out for me!

Take care Ya'll

Can you Believe this?

No your eyes are not decieving you! This is a state police vehicle parked in a disabled parking space. My friend Megan took this picture because she was so outraged. I got so furious that I emailed it to the state police and a few others. My email read as follws:

To Whom It May Concern,

I’ve attached a picture of a State Police Vehicle Illegally parked in Quincy, MA. From what I hear, this officer illegally parks here all the time. As a person with a physical disability, I am appalled by this behavior. I struggle everyday to find parking spots and it would not be so difficult if people like this officer didn’t illegally park. This is completely unacceptable and this officer should be immediately reprimanded. Please keep me posted on this issue. Thank you.
Concerned Citizen,
Caitlin Reilly

781-555-xxxx

Ok, it gets better :) I sent the email to one of my work buddies and he then sent it to his cousin who has this awesome website. My issue made it to the website!! Cool, huh? Check it out.

http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2008/05/12/letter-to-the-editor-get-that-cop-out-of-my-handicap-parking-space.aspx

For those of you who don't know, illegally parking in disabled spots is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine. It absolutely infuriates me!!! More later-hope all is well.

Doggie Nephew pics & Adoption Plan B

Ok, fun stuff first:

I'm somewhat behind on posting recent pics. I believe I promised to post pics of our new doggie nephew Cuinn (pronounced Quinn.)

after meeting him and I never did. The first shot is Kyle holding the little munchkin. He is so cute and soft. He looks a lot like Rosie except his eyes are green and nose is red. Rosie was very good with her new cousin. For those of you who are wondering what kind of dog he is he is Red Fox Retriever. I had never heard of this breed before. He basically looks like a red lab.

The last picture is of our niece Alyssa w/ her new dog. Boy is she so excited to have a new dog :)

We hope to get another dog when we have a house w/ a yard.

Ok, on to a more depressing note. On Friday, April 25, 2008, the US Embassy in Hanoi took the unprecedented step of releasing a detailed "Summary of Irregularities in Adoptions in Vietnam" about the adoption corruption their recent investigations uncovered in Vietnam. The text of this summary can be found at: http://vietnam. usembassy. gov/irreg_ adoptions042508. html

The bottom line is that we won't have everything in order before Vietnam closes in September. We could try really hard to meet the deadlines but if we don't, we risk the chance of losing a lot of $. We are both extremely upset about this. We had our heart set on this and were really looking forward to adopting our child from Vietnam. So, now we have to find another country to adopt from. I've made numerous phone calls over the past 48 hours and so far I have not made much progress. I seem to be getting a LOT of conflicting info online and from different adoption agencies. I think it is a lot easier when the dad has a disability as opposed to the mother. I've encountered stories of people that didn't have any problems adopting when the husband was the one w/ the disability as opposed to the wife. This is really upsetting to me b/c I am a very independent person and know I can care for a child. Yes, it will take some adaptions and some help initially but there is no doubt in my mind that I can. The fact that so many people see me in such a negative light is so upsetting. Obviously they don't know me personally but it is so hard not to take things personally. For example, today I called an agency to inquire about adopting from Russia. Once the woman heard that I use a wheelchair sahe became very negative and said that in Russia they won't believe that I am capable of taking care of a child b/c I use a wheelchair. Now I know things are different outside the U.S. but COME ON!!!!!!!!I think part of it is that I'm so adjusted to being disabled. It has been almost 17 years so I'm very used to it. I tried to explain to this woman that really the only thing I can't do is stand up but she just did not seem to get it.

Anyway, I feel like we are starting frrom square one but we really aren't b/c at least we have our home study approved, which by the way came in the mail today. The countries I am currently reseaching are as follows:

• The Phillipines
• Tiawan
• Russia
• The Marshall Islands
• Panama
• Puru
• Nepal

I think that is all of them. Hopefully next time I post I'll have narrowed this list down. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I know we will eventually find our child, I just hope it doesn't take too long.

Garrett's1st Communion & Other Stuff

Hi All,
Today our nephew Garrett had his 1st Communion. It was a very special day and I took lots of pictures. The picture to the left is Garrett with us. Today was also our niece Lauren's 10th b-day and her brother's 1st Communion is next weekend. Needless to say, we will be really busy the next couple of weeks with family stuff.

It has been a crazy week. I got cellulitus on my foot and ankle on Monday night. Thank god I caught it early enough this time. Last time I had it I had to be hospitalized for a few days. Thankfully this time since it was caught early enough it was treated with one shot of IV antibiotics at the Dr's office and then oral antibiotics. In case you don't know what cellulitis is here is a little blurb:

Cellulitis (sel-u-LI-tis) is a common, potentially serious bacterial skin infection. Cellulitis appears as a swollen, red area of skin that feels hot and tender, and it may spread rapidly.
Skin on lower legs is most commonly affected, though cellulitis can occur anywhere on your body or face. Infections on the face are more common in children and older adults. Cellulitis may affect only your skin's surface — or, cellulitis may also affect tissues underlying your skin and can spread to your lymph nodes and bloodstream.
Left untreated, the spreading infection may rapidly turn life-threatening. That's why it's important to seek immediate medical attention if cellulitis symptoms occur.

On a happy note, Kyle has a new job @ Comcast and he's really excited about it! We also get free cable and Internet so I will be even more of a couch potato. DVR here I come!!!! Congrats Kyle- I'm proud of you!
Tomorrow we are doing chores around the condo and then having an early dinner with my old high school friend Natalie & her partner Stephanie. We can't wait to see them both!

Below are a few more shots from today.

Michaela, Lauren & Sarah

My dad & Kyle

Lauren, Kyle and Caroline being goofy