I had a friend that had just graduated from Law School. My mother and his mother were good friends. In fact, that is how we became friends. We both had mothers that had single children in their 30's and the mother's thought the single children of opposite sex should meet. My mother told his mother and she told him that I had broken my butt in Big Bear. He called me and told me that I had a law suit if I wanted to pursue it. I was reluctant because that is my way. Achieve and sit quietly, get damaged and quietly go get better. Everything internal and quiet, so that the world wouldn't know that inside I have that wedge of fear that tries to control to me. It was more important to let the world see the success that a disabled woman can achieve. My friend preached and preached that it was my right to be heard and he eventually over rode my reluctance. And so it was decided that I would be one of his first cases. It became a bit of a nasty thing because of the POLIO, and because the ER Doctor told the store attorney that there was nothing wrong with me when I was admitted to the Big Bear Hospital. He claimed that he had read the x-rays wrong and on second reading found that I hadn't broken my tailbone after all. Of course my doctor refuted that testimony and the x-rays backed him, but it was an unexpected twist. Then the store attorneys did the sneer and smear thing and said that they would fight me because I walked 'crooked' and probably 'sat' crooked. I was offered a settlement and took it quietly and walked away from sitting on the stand and defending the way that I walked. POLIO again. It worked better for me to accept their offer at that time in my life. Now, I would let them sneer at the way that I walk and sneer right back at them for the way that they made beach chairs. But that was then and a quiet settlement was more my way.
My mother had made some very influential friends in Big Bear and when she told them the story of what the ER doctor had told the store attorney's they took the doctor to task. He finally decided to leave the mountain and look for a job that didn't entail treating POLIO bearers that fall on their butts!
The day after I received my settlement I drove my old car to six dfferent car dealerships. I looked and test drove every car that appealed to me. I eventually fell in love with a blue Nissan Stanza. I didn't even say goodbye to my beautiful white used Chevrolet. I felt I had given enough of my life to extend it's life. I had had to 'bust my butt' to get rid of that car!
My tailbone has become full of arthritis from the break and sometimes sitting on this butt of mine can be a real 'pain in the ass', but when I stop and think about it I put a smile on my face. After all is said and done it's just like my grandmother used to teach me; something good always comes from something bad, if you look for it. And I didn't have to look any further than the garage with the beautiful new blue Nissan Stanza in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment