Way back when, Mary Ellen Nyberg Hemby wrote about her experience as a mom with polio. Her words below reflect a tenderhearted relationship with children and their purity of spirit.  May we fondly pause a moment to once again be caught up in the “springtime of life”… 

 

The Best Wheels

There were once two little girls

who loved to play with wheels.

They pushed their dolls in strollers

before and after meals.

Roller skates, a bike, and a trike

all painted red and white

Kept them moving all around

from morning until night.

They pulled their new wooden wagon

all over in the sun,

and shopping carts in the stores

made shopping much more fun!

But Mama’s yellow wheelchair

had the best wheels of all,

To push and ride with Mama

all over the mall!

___________________________________

People

Most people stand up straight and tall,

can walk and run with no help at all.

But some use canes or crutches, too,

to walk around like others do.

Some need braces or special shoes

for walking or running or whatever they choose.

And some people can just sit in a chair

And wheel around from here to there.

But remember that we’re all people, too,

We all like to play and go to the zoo.

We all love to laugh and sing and talk

whether we have to wheel or walk.

______________________________________________

Later, when up against the late effects of polio, her positive, youthful spirit emerged as she reflected on what might come next …

Polio Survivors–Movement

Movement, from the day we were born, was an exciting, enjoyable experience. Crawling, running, jumping, and riding bikes made the process of getting there as exciting as being there.

As children, we explored and enjoyed every possibility–even with braces or crutches–we tried it all. We succeeded at things people said we could never do.

When we grew older, the movements became normal, for us, and many steps were made unconsciously–simply as a means to an end. The process wasn’t as important as the result. Unless the brace or crutch was changed or broken, we forgot our handicap.

Now, after so many years of succeeding, we have begun to contemplate every movement again. Each step is being carefully considered due to weakness, pain and exhaustion. We have needed to add more supports, and have compromised our independence with mechanical chairs.

We, like children again, will confront the new challenge and learn to savor every movement–to succeed once more!

______________________________________________

About the Author

Mary Ellen Nyberg Hemby lives in Willis, Texas. She contracted polio in 1954 at age two in Nebraska and walked with one long leg brace during her younger years. After college graduation, she moved to Texas to escape winter weather. Mary Ellen worked as a Montessori teacher for five  years.  Post-Polio Syndrome was diagnosed in 1986 when she was married with two young daughters.

She recalls her past writings above, giving them a life context…“they were my way of adjusting to Social Security Disability Income with two small children. I visited their classrooms and talked about disability. One of my daughters, her husband, and their six-month old daughter now live with me. They help me with shopping and cooking and I help them love Isabel…I stay connected (to others by way of) the internet mostly. I try to find something to be positive about at each stage (of life). …God has a plan for all of us.”

Readers are welcome to contact Mary Ellen at menybergh@aol.com

Thank you, Mary Ellen.

May your abiding love for children continue to be a huge blessing for you. Kids desperately need all the love and attention we adults have ready to give them. And we also know that children are so very good for all of us way-too-sensible adults!

 

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Still Searching…

Almost 30 years ago (1987), friends, Barbara Pike, Charlene Bozarth, and I sent out a nationwide request to polio survivors who might want to have their writings published in an anthology. Manuscripts came in, but life took over, and we were never able to create and publish the collection, as we had hoped. When I lost track of Barbara in Ohio, and Charlene, who left Michigan for New Mexico,  I protectively stored the writings for resurrection at a later date.

Well, this year is that later date! I recently rediscovered them in my files, dusted them off, and now plan to take the liberty of publishing them by way of this blog.  Some are essays. Some are poems. They are heartfelt, intimate and describe living with polio in earlier times. We can still resonate with their feelings and messages.

Here is a list of the missing anthology authors whom I would like to contact for permission to publish their work, now, so many years later. Since the publishing of chapter one, we have found two more authors, but have many yet to find.

If you are one, or know of one, please contact me at sunnyrollerblog@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Sunny

 Floy Schoenfelder

Lee Whipple

William Wild

Agnes Fennewald

Charlotte Snitzer

Ann Bradley

Toni Keffeler

Sofia Baltodano

Bruce Berman

Roberta Dillion Williams

Becky Lee Vance

Jean Hamm

Norene Senkbeil

Ann Goodhall

Ginger Sage

Shirley Hile Powell

Elizabeth Reeves

Doris Vanden Boogard

Donna L. Mattinson

Marie Galda

Alan M. Oberdick

Emma Blosser Hartzler

R. N. Hackney

Robert C. Huse

 

Are you somewhere out there?

 

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