Welcome to my new blog, Looking Up. Here you will get to know me a little better, and hopefully I will make you smile, laugh, and think. I want to give you a VIP look into my life, which you will find is very different yet much the same as your own. So, let’s get started with a few “Katherine Basics.”
- Call me Katherine. I let a few of my friends call me Kat, but if you call me Kathy or Kathleen, I WILL run you over with my 400 pound wheelchair. Not kidding.
- I have a genetic bone disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. I will go into this more in my next blog, but basically it’s a condition where my bones break easily and grow abnormally. I’m 2’7″ (yes, you read that right), and use an electric wheelchair for mobility. In case you haven’t noticed, this disease does nothing to impair my mental ability. I actually graduated at the top of both my high school and college classes with honors.
- I’m an artist and graphic designer. I go out. I love live music. I run a business. People call that “inspirational,” I just call it “living.“
- My friends will tell you that I’m a straightforward person. I don’t do petty crap. I don’t beat around the bush. I’m going to tell you what I think, and you may not like it, and that’s totally okay with me. That being said, I’m also fair. I do believe in second chances, and generally I am a believer in giving the benefit of the doubt.
- I try to live my life as much in the present as possible, but because of my physical limitations, I also have to plan ahead. I can’t just get in my car and go meet my friends at a bar. Someone has to take me, and I have to make sure I have someone with or near me that can move me around and let me do things like go to the bathroom. Kind of annoying, but such is life.
- In general, I don’t feel sorry for myself. Sure, there are times where I am frustrated when I can’t physically do something, but I pretty much got over that a long time ago. To spend your life feeling sorry for yourself is no way to live, and my mother made sure I learned that lesson at a very young age.
- I try to be a good person. Sure, I screw up sometimes, but all humans do. I try to fix the things I can and move on from those I can’t.
If I tell you too much more, I won’t have anything to write in my upcoming posts! So that is all you get for now. Next up, Osteogenesis Imperfecta 101.