Activate The Powers of Three!

I'm on hold with the State of Colorado Drivers' Services. Again.

Last time I just had to verify some paperwork questions about which sections of the now nicely creased and properly dog-eared form my doctor needs to sign so I can drive again. This will most likely happen on May 20th.

The reason I am calling this time is to see if I can retroactively get an extension on the deadline for turning in this form as the deadline they originally gave me was four days after my implant surgery. I could be wrong but I don't think my neurologist was going to sign any paper four days after a surgery. My stitches had not been taken out of my throat or from under my arm. The implant had in fact, not even been activated.

Hold, please. I need to go get my clothes from the dryer.
Oh. Wait. They are answering the phone!

Sidebar: The last time I was on hold with them, I decided to take a bath. Just as I was dipping my toes into the bathtub, they picked up the phone.

Psychic Super Villains!

I can't remember the woman's name. We'll call her...Lulu. Lulu was very helpful. Much more helpful than the other people I have wasted away waiting to speak to before (seriously, this is a great diet to go on and a great motivator--"Okay, if I go to change the oil in my car, they will answer the phone." Voila! They do! Do it again! "Okay, if I clean out the drawers in my hutch and start to pack my apartment, they will answer the phone." Voila! They do!)

Basically, I found out that I won't have to wait until July to drive. Granted had I had this information, oh, say like in October then I would have just had to wait until my neurologist signed the papers and then done a couple other things and Voila! Easy as pie. Well a more involved pie. Like one with meringue.

What it all comes down to is I'm getting better and better. My therapist gave me some homework. She asked me to find a physical manifestation of recognizing how far I've come through the last 6 months of having Conversions seizures and on top of that taking back my life, taking mind over matter, working with several people and problem solving so I could be me again.

I didn't quite know how to do this.

Yesterday, I bought myself a sterling silver ring with three garnets in it, set in three thin bands within the ring.

When I have seizures (the Conversion Disorder can be dealt with and overcome but I will always be Epileptic even if I just have a seizure once a year, albeit much less serious than the CD seizures), and most Epileptics do this, I focus on something. My focus is that I just naturally look for things in multiples of three. I happen to like words. For instance, Toyota has six letters. Oil has three letters. London has six letters. Camera has six letters. And so on and so forth. If I can't find words, I look for patterns or anything around me I can count into multiples of three. One time, I was in an ambulance, wishing I had six fingers because I was trying to count something, anything when the paramedic asked me if I had OCD. I had to blurt out "No! I'm just counting to focus!" which was very hard as it is difficult for me to communicate if it is at the point the ambulance has arrived.

So, the ring has become my touchstone. What does it have to do with all of this except that it coincidentally (I don't believe in coincidences) has multiples of three on it and I didn't realize it until this morning? All my life I have loved super heroes. I've never really read comics, even though after I read the graphic novel "Epileptic" I started appreciating them and want to read more, but ever since I was a kid I was fascinated by them. I suppose it's a bit ironic considering I was always the kid with the illness that disallowed certain things. I was less than super. I was not strong. I was not fast. I was not leaping tall buildings in a single bound. I couldn't even hula hoop, which I really longed to do. Sometimes, though, super heroes have rings. They activate their powers with rings and they fly.

So each time I touch my ring it will activate the memory of how far I have come and how far I have flown and most importantly, how many buildings I have leapt over in a single bound. It also will allow me to see into the future and remind me of how much further I have to fly and how good the wind will feel in my hair.

Now I just need a hula hoop.