One of Ufi’s favorite things to do is to have me chase him while has his ring. Eventually, he drops the ring and I throw it. We played chase for a few minutes. I didn’t think we would play again.
Today, he seemed interested in playing chase. So, I followed him around at a slow walk. I didn’t try to catch him by the tail, or any of the other ways I used to have to get him to drop the toy.
I followed him at a slo pace. I let him make his turns in front of me. Eventually, he would drop the ring.
Instead of tossing it to the other end of the yard, I tossed it a few feet. I was careful to keep it low; I don’t want him jumping.
After a few tosses, Ufi got into his pool to rest. His rests were longer than they used to last. But he was drinking water biting his ring, and relaxing.
Accessible chase isn’t chase. But for about 20 minutes, Ufi was acting as much like Ufi as he can act now. Playing accessible chase isn’t like playing chase. Playing accessible chase made me happier than playing chase ever had. Chase always made me glad to make him happy. Truth be told, I didn’t like chase nearly as much as Ufi did. Accessible chase brought a few tears to my eyes.
Together, we are finding ways to make the time Ufi has left as fun and rewarding as we can make it. Accessible chase is one more reminder of the power behind the will to live and the joy of embracing the moment for what the moment has to offer. Someday, I will long to play accessible chase. Later, I will think back on accessible chase and smile. Accessible chase is one more example of Ufi and I working together to make our individual challenges feel like a game.
For the last 6.5 years, Ufi has been helping me navigate a physical world that is rarely set up for me to navigate it too easily. For 6.5 years, Ufi has taken me around loads of obstacles I never knew existed. I’m glad I can spend what ever time I am lucky enough to spend helping Ufi adapt his world to his new physical limitations.