Guest Written Articles

Submitted by Marshall Hohmann, Ability Awareness Presenter and Grandview Grad

Marshall Hohmann, Ability Awareness Presenter and Grandview Grad, posing with his dog, Buddy.

For all dog lovers, this blog is for you. In 2007, I went to my Godparents’ home because my brother and I were getting confirmed in our church. Their dog had puppies, so we tried every single puppy on my lap. Due to my cerebral palsy, I had an overflow of movement, and the puppies wanted down. But one puppy actually came over from the corner. My Godfather picked him up and put him on my lap, and that little guy just fell asleep on my lap. The next challenge was convincing my father to take the dog home with me. My father was digging his heels in with the idea, but after a while, he finally relented. I was allowed to take the dog home – with guidelines. They were: walk it each day and pay for his vet bills. The journey began with Buddy, and yes, I got the name Buddy from the movie Air Bud. I remember when Buddy first came to me, he managed to climb up on my neck and my Godfather said, “Yep, he is the one for you.” So our life started together.

There is one good story that I remember about my Buddy. I have one PSW that Buddy didn’t like, so one day he saw my PSW open the door and he ran after her for some strange reason. Now let’s finish my journey. When I got up each morning, Buddy was always at my bedroom door. When someone always got me up, Buddy used to wait until I was in my wheelchair, and we both went into the kitchen area. Buddy used to watch the floor for food to drop. I used to call him my personal food picker-upper.

I am going to leave you with this poem…

A poem about a dog's life entitled, "Rainbow Bridge".

Article submitted by Marshall Hohmann, Ability Awareness Presenter and Grandview Grad

There are readers and there are writers. They need each other.

Written words can be simple and effective.

Words with a purpose.

Words we desire to share.

Written words of gratitude

Writing our feelings for mental health therapy or love.

The written word allows me to speak as a non-verbal person.

Writing shows character and validates one’s self.

My words are simple, but my thoughts are from deep down within my heart, my mind, and my very soul.

As I write now and, in the future, I encourage you the reader, to write for the benefit of others; family, friends, and community.

The reader may gain much understanding and comfort from seeing the words rather than just hearing them. What is expressed verbally is not often heard by others, but when those thoughts are put on paper, the reader pauses to digest.

Life gets busy and we’re not drawn to put our expressive thoughts on paper, but I encourage you to write because thoughts you can now see can be visualized even deeper.

Perhaps you can think about journaling. You may never know what transpires between writer and reader, or the comfort, encouragement and gratitude received (even if the reader is yourself).

So be inspired, put pen to paper… You may be surprised!

These last few weeks of social distancing haven’t been easy for a guy who has to get people to help him with everything in his life from the time I get up until I go to bed. I have had to really rethink my support. I decided to have my agencies for my personal support workers only to get me up and put me to bed. My day normally involves emails for work, putting finishing touches on talks, going to ODSP, chiropractor, and playing chess. My mental health has been greatly challenged by this because unlike most of you, I can’t clean my house, do dishes, make things in my home shop. For someone like myself that can’t use their hands to complete simple acts of occupation such as creating meals for my family or sorting my closet are not ways I can spend my time. Going biking with friends, or going to the gym have all been put on hold for now so I am making the best of what I can do and that is writing blogs with hope for our Grandview staff and our wonderful families that we serve, helping them realize that we will get through this. We will be stronger as a community at the end and your children will continue to grow and learn.

Let’s put everything in perspective. I have a big enough house to comfortably roll my wheelchair around in, it’s warm, we have light and there is no lack of food or clean running water. In some areas of the world people live in eight by ten “cells”. Parents and children and others having basically enough room to be able to sleep… imagine isolation there! In many oppressed countries the grocery stores shelves are always empty and people wait for hours for fresh fruit and meat which rarely comes. Young women carry jugs of water that are found miles away from their village. Let’s face it, folks, we are extremely blessed.

Submitted by Marshall Hohmann, Ability Awareness Presenter and Grandview Grad

Guest Written Articles

You Have Questions