Hero of the swings

I think that I notice minor speech defects creeping into my elocution. It's a lot like my walking. If I pay attention, I can walk like other folks, but if I lurch gracelessly from point point A to point B, I often wobble a bit. Now and then I notice minor slurring from a lazy tongue. So I am going to press ahead with making those .WAV files for use by a speech device I may use in the future.

Speech problems typify bulbar onset ALS, and bulbar onset ALS is supposed to be scary because it is faster. Well, my case so far has proven to be slow. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it presented itself in an atypical way that defied expectations. I also realize that this could be the opening of the abyss. We Shall See.

I walked to the playground today with my son. He was swinging in high arcs in the swing to my left, and I was just sitting down in a swing and getting ready to push off, when a small toddler boy walked right in front of my son's path. For half a second my brain did not compute any alarm, and then I realized what was happening. Pushing with my my right leg, I shot down beside my son to land on my left knee. My right arm flew out and arrested the swing of my son, just as the mother screamed her son's name. It was not that hard to stop my son's forward progress, but my body tried to maintain its balance after the impact, and I reeled around and fell on my back. No one was hurt.

I have often over the years longed for a moment to demonstrate my heroism. There was that time I tried to rescue the woman from the purse snatching in progress, only to find my pants legs caught between the chain and gears of my bike.

This, I suppose, will have to do. And if I protected a toddler from harm, it will serve quite well.