A Hilarious Inspiration

Some of you may have heard the name Zach Anner. Some of you may not. He has an amazing attitude that doesn’t let his disabilities stop him from doing what he wants to do. He is on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/ZachAnner/featured), has a Facebook and Twitter account, and yesterday his first book came out (If At Birth You Don’t Succeed). I think he is funny as hell. But I also think you might need to have a certain humor to like his work. Check out the video below and see what you think of him.

Cuddles

My bulldog, Storm, does not cuddle. Only when it’s on her terms or when she is sleeping under my warm covers (which is rare, because if she under them she is down keeping my feet toasty). Lately it seems that I have a new dog. Storm has been nothing but cuddly. When we are on the couch, she has been laying next to me, taking moments to gaze up at me.

Awhile ago she slept under the covers and when I woke up, I saw her laying next to my upper body. I seized the moment and wrapped my arms around her and she didn’t even try to move. I tried to stay awake to enjoy the moment but soon fell asleep.

On Monday I started to have my cringing migraines. I didn’t leave my bed much that day and Storm stayed with me the whole time. I woke up from one of my naps to find her under my covers, right up next to me, pretty much ON me. I’m guessing she could tell something was wrong with me and bless her for that.

That night/Tues early morning I was awake as my pain pills had not kicked in. I laid there debating in my head if I should wake up my boyfriend so he could take me to the ER. He wakes up at 3 AM for his work so I really didn’t want to go that route. I decided to try a couple skills I learned in therapy for distress tolerance. I laid in bed making myself smile while working on my breathing. It didn’t seem to work (hmmm.. now looking back on it, maybe I just didn’t use the skills long enough for them to work?) so I decided to just deal with it and accept that I would have to lay there in pain until I fell asleep.

As I was laying there, I began to pet Storm and was so thankful she was my companion animal. With it being in the middle of night and everyone sleeping, I felt completely alone. I couldn’t hold a conversation but I just wanted someone THERE. Storm took care of that. Having a companion animal is no joke and should be taken seriously.