Rebecca is my special needs daughter. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but spend a little time in conversation and you start to think “Hmmm……something’s not quite right here”. I’ve always thought that if she was much better or much worse things would be easier, clearer, less frustrating, more defined.
After flailing about in that line of thinking for a while when she was younger I realized it only lead to more frustration and I abandoned it as a Way To Navigate Through Life; it makes much more sense to play the cards you actually hold. Every so often, though, the curtain opens for a second and I catch a glimpse of my daughter without her disabilities, and I daydream about knowing her when she is clear all the time.
But I digress.
She is 30 now and our lives have taken a remarkable turn; stuff I wouldn’t have believed had someone told me when I was younger but that’s kind of the way life is, n’est-ce pas?
Our most recent adventures were in Virginia and North Carolina and the Segway Tour at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina was a complete success.
Rebecca is able to ride bikes and horses and loves Biltmore so this seemed like a reasonable activity to attempt. And if it proved to not be the best choice we would, as my friend Beryl said, “shelve the idea gracefully and wander into different activities”.
We arrived at Antler Village at our appointed time, signed releases, were issued name tags and met our guide Lindsay. Off we went to the Segway corral for our orientation. I was the first to test drive the Segway that day…a sturdy steed that was eerily responsive to shifts in weight and position; kind of a combination of skiing, bike riding and something out of Star Wars.
Rebecca was next and Lindsay provided the perfect learning experience; calm, patient and encouraging. Initially Rebecca tensed her whole body and her legs just shook but when reminded to breathe and relax into the Segway she caught on quickly. After we all rode the practice track several times we were deemed fit to travel and off we went across the meadow road to the river.
We spent an enjoyable 2 hours cruising the not-often-seen-by-the-public grounds of the estate and learned that part of “Last of the Mohicans” was filmed there, how canola is grown, harvested and used to help the estate be self-sustaining and where the herds of sheep and cattle live. Oh, and the vineyards. Biltmore is home to a winery that is so popular they use all the grapes grown on the estate and must buy from other vineyards. The wine is quite enjoyable, the labels are aesthetically pleasing and the “Century” bottles make an attractive olive oil container. Rebecca had gotten the hang of riding (driving?) her Segway and she zipped along with the rest of us.
We had lunch at “Cedric’s” (named after the Vanderbilt’s family dog) and then walked through the main house as we had never seen it decorated for Christmas. When we reluctantly emerged we found that while we were inside, hundreds of luminarias had been placed along the drives, walls, fountain and stairs. The tree was lit and as the sun went down the lights glowed brightly, giving a soft golden glow to the sky and grounds. We headed off to the path to our car and Rebecca said (as she always does when we leave), “I want to live here!”
