Above: a group photo.
in front of a ger (Mongolian tent) in Mongolia.
Find our son.

July

Here is a link to re-read July 2022. July 2022

There were several "happy crying" moments one year ago. Wow, I can re-read it again and again.

Entry#135. 7/02/2023.  
I think our son should write about his great expedition in Mongolia on any format (social media, articles or anything) even he says he isn’t a type of writing person at all. He always says he prefers to write in science format.  
He is home (!) safely from his 3-weeks-long Mongolia/Japan trip. Seems the last part of flight transition was crazy because he had ONLY 1 hour to catch a flight to CVG in Detroit. Surprisingly and super-luckily he made it through customs and everything for less than 60 minutes.  
If you know me well, you can guess easily that I had to think about “plan B” to pick him up at CVG. That’d be “I need to drive in the stormy rainy dark to pick him up midnight” because of the arrival time 12:02AM!! Thank goodness, that didn’t happen. Wheeeeew. But my mind was uneasy during the day because I don’t like driving in the night. Well, but if it’s needed, I would do that anyway. You might laugh.  
We’ve been celebrating our son’s homecoming since 6/29. So wonderful to listen to his stories. There are tons of things to chat. He’s been very talkative, yes! he is very chatty. You should hear him talk. I’d love to share some stories here one at a time. He is a funny man, you know. He got a new iPhone recently and the camera is good one better than mine really. I believed he was ready to take any photos in Mongolia “excitingly willingly”. Guess what he said to us after he was home? He said “Most of the participants with me had a great big camera like a full-frame DSLR, digital single-lens reflex camera. So I let them take photos. I didn’t take much by myself.”  What??  
So funny, seems he enjoyed the experience there without taking photos. I bet you think now “wow, he is not like his mother.” Right?  I am kind of a person who takes many many photos for documenting everything (the amount sometime makes you overwhelmed. That’s true as well.)  
Even so, I’m so grateful and happy that our son shares his thoughts and experiences with us at home. 

Photo: Our son proudly showed this photo to us. A local boy and his puppy (herding dog). He even told us the boy's name! Sounded he had a good time with this boy. (Even though he couldn't communicate in English.)

Go back to June 2023 (click it). There are some Mongolia "stuffs" there as well. 

7/04/2023.  Happy 4th!!
My husband's off-road handcycle had been in repair/maintenance for 4 months (!!). There is a recumbent bike/trike shop in Fairfield. It's back! now. You can guess how much my husband is pleased. So we went for a gravel road handcycling. You know? It's totally different entertainment than road-cycling. 

7/05/2023. 
When your husband and son told you about "drone light shows" and you noticed you were "outdated" about that technology, you would still be pleased and amazed watching those drone light shows on YouTube. So they say that drone shows will be replaced as Fireworks shows in future??! 

7/08/2023.  
I'm grateful for having many wonderful thoughtful friends around me, after this new-normal life started, I've gotten feeling this more and more. One of my teacher-friends (she was my trail-jogging buddy as well) texted me yesterday saying "Let's walk together." to check on me. You know? It made me smile huge. Yes, we went for a walk for one hour around our neighborhood. We chatted, laughed, looking around and hugged. The bonus was the souvenir gift from her summer family trip to Turkey/Istanbul!! Every time I see it, it makes me smile more. 

Entry#136  7/09/2023.  
My husband is SCI T10 complete paraplegic. As you know, he wants to do things as much as he can independently with strength he has. I'd love to support his stance, his motivation and his future goals. But, you know, sometimes I do help out too much. I should know just right "enough" amount. I'm still learning. I put a YouTube video here, it's about "handcycle preparation" and "all by yourself, alone" stuff. 

This gentleman does everything beautifully and amazingly. I'm impressed (also shocked, you know?). In future, my husband might want to do this kind of preparation by himself alone, maybe. It's really up to individual core strength and mobility depending on injury levels very much.  
For now, I'm happy to help out for his preparation because I follow him to do cycling everywhere. So I always need to manage "3 machines" for every riding times. Handcycle, wheelchair and my own bicycle. 

Different types of handcycle make different spaces in a van. It's like a puzzle. 

I was super proud of myself when I put 4 machines into a van. Off-road handcycle, wheelchair, my trek-bicycle and our son's bicycle all together. I was even surprised.  
You might laugh. 

Entry#137. 7/12/2023.  
Our son is young, full of energy and seeking for adventures (with enough amount of laziness, you know). Days pass quickly after his Mongolia expedition especially when he has summer jobs as well. Well, I still want to hear more about his "reflection" from Mongolia times, I never gets tired. However the thing I can do is using my imagination from limited information he gave us right after his trip. It's still fun to myself. I just hope he keeps his experience/feelings in his mind (and brain) as long as possible. If somehow this event could lead him to find his career/job in near future, that'd be super awesome. I put some information about Ger (Mongolian tent) in June page. June 2023. 
He, in fact, "took down" his Ger. Seems he enjoyed seeing the structures inside, learning how to take it down and more. He even told us that he might be able to build it up in our backyard by himself! (Really?). 
photos: He stayed in this Ger. (I was grateful that he used a selfie stick!)

The below photo: Group photo in front of a Ger. This was the boy in the middle (he is a local Mongolian. So as his left side girl.) his actual house. Very interesting.

7/15/2023.  
When your husband told you that he was planning "Lab summer field trip" to Cincinnati museum center taking his 3 students, you would ask him "take me with them, too?" So we went. Everything was just perfect plus dinner time + coffee shop. I love these human beings who stick around with my husband and love "science/nature stuffs". I laughed a lot and it was so great.

Entry#138.  7/15/2023.  
To my husband as SCI T10 paraplegic, it's still challenging to get into woods/trails/mountain-sides. But if there is a chance, he is definitely willing to get there with a special gadget or something. This time, he modified "tires" to big-fat-thick off-road type. He wanted to try getting into a Mountainbike trail (very easy beginner one) at Hueston woods state park, with these new tires. If there is a wooden narrow bridge or a narrow deep dip point, you know, my husband's handcycle won't pass that point at all. Also "turning around" (U turn) would be very difficult. It's hard to know whether there are these difficult points in trails beforehand (exact sizes or depths), so we just go for it and find it out. Even though I feel it's risky, I follow him anyway. 

Guess what? This time, my husband gave me a real Mountainbike which is my size perfectly. I had no idea about a MTB at all. Also he showed me this video.

Now you are laughing (aren't you?), I'm pretty sure. We cannot be like this video-girl, cannot be "aggressive" "competitive" mountain-bikers. But he just introduced me "what mountain-biking looks like". 

In fact, it was so much fun to myself to ride on a real mountain-bike in a MTB trail. I can learn more. On the other hand, I felt big fear also when my husband was almost falling/tripping at the dip point. When you ride on your own bike, you cannot be so helpful for a disabled person on handcycle in a trail. I walked with him last time when he was in a trail. I need to learn and make my own "emergency" plan for any situations. 
Because there are always some situations he cannot handle by himself alone no matter how much he tries hard or makes efforts. 

7/17/2023.  
Our son's updates:
He is currently in Colorado with his friend. Seems he is planning to hike up one of 14ers. He is such a Colorado-lover. 

Entry#139.  7/19/2023.  
I visited Cincinnati museum center several times before, some with my family and some as chaperoning for school field trips. At that time, I had no idea about accessibility at all, I should have paid more attention about it, you know?  Especially at Children’s museum, there might be families with a stroller more.  All building is supposed to be accessible including public restrooms. That makes sense in general. When I visited there with my husband and his students recently, my eyes are automatically checking building structures. It’s now my routine habit, you might laugh. But I think it’s a good kind of habit. It takes more times or more distances to use slopes and elevators. But I feel grateful that there are ways to “wheel” around. There is a section of “The Cave” in museum of Natural history and science. At first, it looked not so good for wheelchair users because of the stairs to downstairs inside the caves. I felt a bit sad at that moment. But we figured out that there was another pathway to go around and watch caves from upper levels. I really liked that whole idea. There were some very narrow sections but it was manageable for my husband.  
https://www.cincymuseum.org/sciencemuseum/
On the other hand, the reality hit me all at once, too. This exhibition of The Cave was created as showing the local landscapes like Mammoth cave natural park in KY. I’ve heard about some cave tours before. My husband cannot do their “extreme” tours anymore which is sad. But it seems they offer, at least, one or two accessible tours for wheelchair users. I’m impressed about that fact.    
Someday I’d love to visit again Smithsonian Institution (especially National Museum of Natural History) in Washington, D.C. That’d be wonderful.  
https://naturalhistory.si.edu/?utm_source=si.edu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=MyVisitSI

7/19/2023. 
Son updates:
Looks awesome!

Entry#140.  7/20/2023.  
I admire my husband's quick awesome skills for searching information. Lately especially about trails/roads/gravels for handcycle. He found Whitewater Canal trail the other day. Yes, we visited and cycled. In fact it was really nice fun road.  https://whitewatercanaltrail.com/

There was a section right besides active railroad. We didn't think we would see a train at all. Then on the way back, we heard train whistle!!! Of course my eyes were wide open. Okay, is it really coming??? YES! 

You can guess how much we were excited and happy!! 
http://www.whitewatervalleyrr.org/
After we were home, I googled about this train. It was really wonderful coincidence after all because there is not much trains running per day. I'm not so sure if we can make it to see it again next our cycling time.  We were really lucky to watch it with our own eyes. Wooo hooo.

7/20/2023.  
Celebrated our wonderful friendship. I am grateful.

Entry#141.  7/20/2023.
I wrote about Adaptive kayaking on June 25. We drove to Columbus (Alum Creek state park/ Alum Creek lake), but it got canceled due to the storm/rain at that time.  
If you ask me “Were you a real kayaker before?”, the answer is NO. My husband and son used to kayak on Lake Dillon preserve in Frisco, Colorado several times when they had trips to CO for 14ers. They always had one easy day before hiking up 14ers to relax and prepare their bodies. I joined them a few times. So my husband likes kayaking. We were wondering how much he can manage his balance on a kayak on water with his limited core strength. You never know how tricky and difficult everything you do “without core strength”.  My husband and I looked up some information beforehand about adaptive kayaking. Even so, we weren’t sure what happened there about details, like how to get into a kayak, what special equipment was needed and so on. We checked their website.  

https://adaptivesportsconnection.org/sports-programs/kayaking/
Just in case, I read this site, too. This page taught me how to transfer from wheelchair to kayak which is floating on water.  
https://spinalistips.se/en/tip-transfer-from-wheelchair-to-kayak-441

I was simply curious. This info gave me the idea that it would need floor-transfer skill the most to sit down on a dock. (It says “ preferably onto a cushion”!) This made me feel “Wow, that’s one of high-level skills!” As I said, we had no idea about details of this Columbus program, so “we just play it by ears” was our idea. We had this info as well. This area is nearby and easy to access to us. I’d like to check and see this kayak launch system. However this place offers the launch only, not a kayak itself. It means we need to bring our own kayak. Hmmmm   
https://www.yourmetroparks.net/parks/voice-of-america-metropark/lake

https://boardsafedocks.com/adaptive-launch/metroparks-ada-compliant-kayak-launch/

Anyway we were ready to drive to Alum Creek Lake and try it out for kayaking whatever the transfer setting is. As long as we have an instructor there with us, we could learn something new. The day had come on July 18th! To be continued.

Entry#142  7/20/2023.  
I wrote about Quinn Brett last July. I love to read about her very much. Her documentary film is now on Apple TV, Prime, YouTube and more. I’m planning to watch it soon. The title is An Accidental Life. I’m already burst into tears watching the trailer. Because I really can understand what she wants to say….. because I have my husband here with me. 

This is from last July:  Meet Quinn Brett here.  
“Quinn Brett and the Tour Divide”.  https://youtu.be/EE696qDOy-Y
"Quinn Brett is pushing the bounds of cycling after Spinal Cord Injury”.  https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a35937693/quinn-brett-hand-cycle-white-rim-trail/

During my reading about her, simply and naturally I saw the similarity between she and my husband. I could imagine that my husband would nod in agreement with her opinions and feelings, nod along a lot. She says “I just want to be treated like I’m normal. When I’m out on my handcycle, I don’t want to hear that I’m such an inspiration.” on the article. My husband would say that. He loves to be in the woods or in the trails with wilderness. It seems very natural that he seeks for adaptive off-road mountain biking. 

https://youtu.be/51GRS4vvdvM

7/21/2023. Great news!!!  
Our son updates. He and his friend did summit on one of 14ers! Mount Yale 14196ft!!  I am super proud.  
https://hikingwalking.com/index.php/destinations/co/co_cent/buena_vista/mount_yale/mount_yale_detail

7/23/2023.  
Our son brought several souvenirs home. I really enjoy seeing them very much. One of them is "Mongolian ankle bone game"!! Yes, they are actual bones! Our boy-dog, Ranger gets excited smelling them very much. So interesting. 

7/25/2023.  
Sometimes on bike trails, you could see some awesome rare sights which make you feel happier. This time, we saw a real horse carriage on the road. It was fun.

Entry#143.  7/26/2023.
Adaptive kayaking!  My husband finally made it to be there (at Alum creek lake) with some possibilities of rain/storm (!)  Once rain starts, this program is canceled because of the safety. This time, weather held for us. I was pleased, of course. My husband put on his front-wheel (a special gadget for wheelchair) and wheeled to a shore/beach area. Without a front-wheel, it’s a bit hard to maneuver on a sand-surface. In these 2 years, he has learned a lot and collected several must-have items. How much these items make his daily life easier!
There were many kayaks lining up which made me excited more. Their setting was interesting to me. They have an extra wooden bar/chair for transfer which looks like a transfer board. They have an extra back-support for weak-core persons. I was glad to see that support. 
They attached big thick wheels to a kayak both side. A kayak with disabled person inside can move to water with these wheels. Once it’s on water, a crew member took off big wheels from a kayak. Then it’s ready.

Do you see a transfer chair and big wheels?

Both my husband and I were wondering “how much he can be stable on water”. It seemed just fine to me. He looked just fine to me. That made me so happy and cheerful, you can guess. I also was lucky enough that I was in a kayak by myself to follow my husband’s team! I had to add here though, I’m an armature kayaker so my movements on water was so sloppy and wobbly. We started kayaking slowly to middle of the lake and it was just so calming, relaxing and exciting. I kept yelling “woooo hoooo!” “Hurray!” “This is awesome! Great! Wonderful!” You know me, you should laugh. I was so grateful this opportunity for him and thankful for this experience he finally got. I was so excited and was about to focus on “documenting everything” with phone-camera. I was about to reposition myself on water to take a shot from his front face side. (You know, repositioning on water was a bit tricky to myself.)

Then next moment, my husband was capsized!!!! Nobody expected it at all. I was shocked mumbling "no, no, no."  
to be continued (one more time)

Entry#144. 7/28/2023.  
We were talking about “what if capsizing happened?” beforehand at home.  However on that day at the program, we didn’t ask about it because my husband was set on water smoothly and looked settled very much. But his instructor and I didn’t ask him “how much he forced himself to focus on balancing” which I should have.
I didn’t see how it happened actually. It was that much suddenness and quick. It was just like “plop!” Next moment, I saw my husband’s face on lake-water surface. Upside down kayak next to him. I was shocked very much, you know? Good thing was he was smiling floating with a life jacket. He checked his legs/feet, making sure no twists, no breaks, no bleeding and injuries, right away. Good actions, indeed.
Do you know how to recover from a capsizing during kayaking? In general?  Well, you try to be inside a kayak from water somehow? (I still don’t know. Oh boy)
In my husband’s case, his instructor told us to wait for an arrival of a safety-boat, maintaining his current condition/situation in water. So we did. He was holding a bow of my kayak.
After a safety-boat came, 3 adults (men) grabbed his side of body (3 sections) and pulled him up into a boat without tilting the boat itself. It was very tricky and hard even with 3 strong men’s power. I was relieved once he was on a boat. Wheeew.
They offered him “Do you want to continue kayaking? Do you want to get into a kayak at the nearest shore?”  I needed to use my brain quickly about it.  In that case:
His wheelchair isn’t there. There is no special transfer chair, big wheels at the shore. He needs to ask them fully to “carry him into a kayak”. He hasn’t done that before.
It was a nice offer that they gave him, though.
But we decided to go back to the starting point and finish the session. He lost his glasses into a lake, unfortunately. It took more times for a whole process more than you imagine.
After all, I can say “it was a good experience”. We experienced everything all at once. See? Now we can tell how to do and what to do at kayaking.
After we were home, my husband searched and gathered more information. (Of course he did!)  He learned more useful and great things. There is a sit-on-top kayak which is more stable than a recreational boat kayak. Outriggers are always available which cannot be capsized. (But if you know my husband, you can easily guess he prefers not to use them because he likes “natural ways” as much as possible.)
I’m grateful for this program very much. And we learned more this time, again. I was so useless when his kayak was flipped because I didn’t do anything there at all. It’s true.  Supporters, volunteers and instructors were all eager to help him out there. So I can say this again, it was a meaningful experience to us.   
Some thoughts are staying in my mind though. If only two of us, my husband and I go kayaking in future and he is capsized, I have to rescue him by myself, don’t I?? Do you think I can handle that?  Wow. We will see how much I can learn more.