Finding Joy, however fleeting

This morning we went to the playground. Maggie loves to go to the playground, even though she cannot really join in on the activities. She loves to watch the kids running back and forth and listen to the squeals of the little kids. Today was even better because we went with a couple of other kids who would run and squeal and then come back to Maggie to see what she was sayingand interact with her. Maggie was in her glory.

We headed to what Eddie used to call "The Big Park," which is the children's playground in Golden Gate Park. It really is "The Big Park" compared to neighborhood playgrounds. It is huge. This park was redone about seven or eight years ago and it is even better than before. There are lots of those engineered soft surfaces instead of sand and Maggie's wheelchair can go to more places. (There is still sand in some places, just not as much). There are climbing sculptures like this one that we decided was a crashing wave. I used to think it was the spine of a buried dinosaur, but the wave makes more sense.

There is one adapted swing for disabled kids or for kids who are afraid of the regular swing, I guess. It's a seat with a back instead of a sling type seat. We asked Maggie if she wanted to try and she said yes, so we lifted her into the seat. At first she did not like it.Maggie  has little or no control of her trunk or head and really needs to be strapped in to stay upright. The seat had no straps and you could tell from Maggie's face that it was scaring her. We had to stop her from falling over several times, before we got her balanced.

Once we got her centered correctly and she knew there was a hand on her, she felt safer and actually started to enjoy herself.  It didn't last long, but it was worth it. We have learned to push through the hesitation and fear to get to the joy, even if it's fleeting.

Fleeting Joy is definitely better than no joy.