Inspiration

I went scuba diving over the weekend. I drove down to Crystal River, Florida on Thursday. We dove in the Crystal River on Friday and, alas, saw no manatees. Damn! I want my money back! On Saturday, we did a drift dive in Rainbow River. A drift dive is like a float trip, only you do it under water. Of course, this wasn't as good as ocean diving, but I did get to work on my buoyancy control.

Thursday, before I left, I was frantically looking for my dive logbook. I couldn't find it anywhere. I did one last search before I went, looking once again, in all the closets. Upon opening the closet where I normally stash my dive gear an irate little tabby, Ashley, came out and gave me a meow of admonition. All I could think about was Connie du Toit's cat stuck in a closet when she and Kim went on a trip back east. I would have hoped my house sitter would have found her.

It started raining when I hit Florida and rained all the way to Crystal River. But, the next two days were beautiful.

Now to my point. This was an adaptive scuba trip, but the only crips were Extreme Mike, Ray the brain damaged guy, and myself.

I have had people tell me that I am an inspiration because I scuba dive, adaptive snow ski, and have soloed in an airplane (I have the log book to prove it). To that, I say"bullshit". I am a T12/L1 paraplegic with some functionality below my level of injury. Thus, I am able to walk with the aid of braces and crutches. I can drive a car without having to use hand controls. I have a full open water certification, though my certifier requested I always dive with two dive buddies, not for my safety, but for the safety of my dive buddy. I can do a tired diver tow, but not if I'm tired myself. In the land of the crips there are many people worse off than I.

Extreme Mike is an incomplete quadroplegic. That means he has some functionality below his level of injury. He can drive with hand controls, but doesn't have enough arm strength to propel a wheelchair so he has to use an electric powered chair. His legs are completely paralyzed. In spite of this he has skydived (with someone holding on of course) and other stuff, like scuba diving. Since he has no way of propelling himself, he has to be totally dependent on his dive buddy, just like when he jumped out of an airplane he was totally dependent on the guy he jumped with. This takes an incredible amount of both bravery and trust. Now he is an inspiration.

Three of the people on the trip were HSA (Handicapped Scuba Association) certified dive buddies. That means they went through a course to teach them how to dive with handicapped people like Extreme Mike and myself. These people are inspirational also.

Bert Quist is the owner of divers@sea in Atlanta. He is the person who puts together the adaptive scuba program with Shepherd Center, a major rehab center in Atlanta. (I'm an alumnus of Shepherd). I've been on two adaptive trips with Bert and he is incredible at taking care of the disabled divers. He is creative and patient. And he works very hard. Some people, like Extreme Mike, have to be totally suited up by another person. Then, when in the water, have to be propelled by one or two people. These people not only have to control their own buoyancy, but the buoyancy of the person that they are responsible for. That is not an easy task. Bert does it well.

Another person is Graham Wilson. Graham, like Bert, is a Master Diver and is also an HSA certified dive buddy. He goes on all the adaptive scuba trips. Altho' he is not getting paid for doing it, Graham works every bit as hard as Bert does. He is also fantastic at working with disabled people. Keep in mind that this is not his job. He just loves diving and is willing to help out.

And the last person is Angie Rowe who is one of the recreational therapists at Shepherd Center. As Rachel Lucas wrote in her posts about working in a nursing home, there are care givers and people who work as care givers. Likewise, there are recreational therapists and people who work as recreational therapists. Angie is the former. On our trip to Roatan last year, Angie worked very, very hard, Her husband Jason came along and he worked hard also. I just cannot say enough about Angie. Plus, she's cute and is fun to be with.

I have found that divers, overall, are a great group of people. I was a diver before my accident and on all but one occasion, my dive buddy was someone I met on the boat. I never had a bad dive buddy. On this weekend's trip, there were two divers who finished their open water checkout on the first day. They pitched in to help Extreme Mike get suited up and helped get him in and out of the water. I'm sure there are assholes in the dive community, but I have never met one.

So me an inspiration for others? Not a chance! Extreme Mike, Bert, Graham, and Angie? They are inspirational people.

Sunday morning I got up and it was raining. All the way to Gainesville, it poured down. The rain didn't stop until just outside of Georgia. Now, it's time for a mini-rant.

Listen up! If you are driving in the left lane and someone is five feet away from your rear bumper or passing you on the right, YOU ARE DRIVING TOO SLOW! Pull over to the right lane. I don't care if you are driving the speed limit. In Georgia the speed limit is ten miles over the posted speed limit or whatever the cops decide to allow. In Georgia we like to drive fast and we do. If you are poking along at 70 MPH, you are holding up traffic. You are an impediment to good traffic flow. GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY! Or better yet, stay off the highway.

Thanks. I fell better now.

Posted by denny at March 31, 2003 11:18 AM