Charlotte Lankard: Sometimes friends give the most healing gifts

Valentine’s gifts are on the horizon, but I am not quite ready to move on from Christmas and those unexpected and thoughtful gifts that are not wrapped in shiny paper and tied with beautiful bows.

Invitations to dinner with friends over the holidays are special gifts. However, I'm in a wheelchair this year and I knew while most restaurants have wheelchair ramps, most homes do not. When I regretted, friends gifted me with two unique ramps.

The Christmas Eve ramp was from my friend Leslie Rainbolt. The ramp was covered with a red carpet and lined with twinkling green lights, leading up to her back door. Festive and perfect for Christmas. I am told it can be easily stored for future use.

The other was for a New Year’s Eve dinner at the home of our friends Nancy and Andy Coats. Inside their home are steps leading from the living room/kitchen level down into the dining room — something I could never navigate in a wheelchair. But in just a few days Nancy had built a permanent ramp and it was painted and carpeted.

While I will always remember the ramps, it is the thoughtfulness of these friends that make the gifts unforgettable. When we are “crippled” in anyway, we need health care professionals, but lucky are those of us who also have friends like these to accompany us on our healing journey.

Charlotte Lankard is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice. Contact her at clankard@cox.net.