Friends and Allies

I was challenged by a friend's Facebook post to write a blog post about friendship. Cool. I just used the word "post" twice in one sentence. 

Anyway, we had a family friend come out to visit last week. We had fun seeing a concert and she got to see tons of Matthew. 

One thing we have in common other than friendship with my husband is that we both have physical disabilities. Throughout the course of our time together, we became allies of sorts. If needed, I'd advocate for her, especially at the concert venue, when both hubs and I made sure she had what she needed. When it was time to clear out our row, I told the staff to please be patient with her and that she needed to go at her own pace to pack up to leave. 

We also had a bit of a heart to heart about how it's challenging getting around in an environment built for people with a normal range of mobility and vision. I hope we mutually encouraged each other and served as allies. We have friends without diabilities, but they don't experience unique daily struggles that come with physical limitations. It's nice to connect with someone who gets it, even if it's in a different way, and when we advocate for each other, we become each other's allies.