Jamie – How have your friendships changed?

Well, I had kind of, at the time of my accident, I had a boyfriend and that quickly ended. this is pre-cellphones, so communication was lacking first and foremost. But he was the type that probably wanted a pretty girl on his arm, and I was now sitting down and just different. And so that ended. But yeah, I did, I absolutely realized who, you know, it’s funny because I watch people watch me. I don’t know if that makes sense, people in wheelchair will probably understand completely, but I watch people watch me. And I know, I can tell that person can handle the wheelchair, or that person cannot handle it. And I don’t, when there’s somebody that can’t handle it, I never look at them and judge them in a bad way. I just see ignorance and I want to educate them. So, if the opportunity arises, I try to educate because I wouldn’t have known if—and I see people in wheelchairs and I’m like, “I wonder what happened to them?” and “I wonder if…?” I’m curious and I’m in a wheelchair. So, going back and the friendships and everything, there was grace towards that, but still it was hurtful, it was hurtful to lose friends. But I gained a lot of really great friends too.