Because sometimes, we need reminders.

Content Notes: passive suicidal ideation (non-graphic), chronic illness, disability, mental health, service animals, stress, financial strain.

Welcome back to the Cryptid’s Den.
Come in.
You can set things down here.

Read this slowly.
Or skim it.
Or come back later.
All of those count.

This is The Crippled Cryptid.
A quiet corner of the internet where disabled lives are allowed to be complicated, unpretty, and deeply loved.

I’m Sky.
Professional cryptid. Accidental cyborg.
Someone who lives in a body with opinions and a service dog named Luna who enforces rest with alarming efficiency.

Luna is part guardian, part shadow, part hey, you don’t get to ignore that.

M&M is my constant. My best friend. The one who holds the world steady when I can’t.

This space exists for the days when survival is the whole task.
For love that shows up even when everything hurts.
For telling the truth without turning it into a performance.

If you’ve been here before, I’m glad you came back.
If this is your first time, you’re welcome here.

The Lunatic Café is open.
On today’s menu: Little Things That Keep Us Going.

I know that sounds small, maybe even silly. But I think most people have a short list, five things at least, that keep them anchored on the hard days. The days when a quiet, unhelpful voice pipes up and suggests the world might be better off without you.

We don’t like that voice here at The Crippled Cryptid.
But we acknowledge that it exists, the same way we acknowledge bills, the current U.S. president, and how offensively expensive everything is.

We notice it. We don’t invite it to run the place.
In fact, we invite it to leave. Loudly.

Luna especially barks at it, and chases it every time she sees it.

So today, I wanted to talk about the things that keep me here. The if I’m not here anymore… things.

Lists don’t fix everything.
They just remind me that I’m still attached to the world in small, stubborn ways.

These are mine.

1. Luna.
Obviously.

I know that if something were to happen to me, Luna would still have the Yard Yeti and M&M. She would be loved. She would be cared for.

But she wouldn’t have me.

People like to say that Australian Cattle Dogs pick one person and attach themselves like industrial-strength Velcro. Everyone else is simply  tolerated.

Do I know if that’s universally true? No.
Because Luna Bean loves all of her humans.

But the way she sleeps on my legs every night. The way she follows me from room to room like a piece of my soul that learned how to walk.

It makes me wonder…

2. Books.

There are still so many books I haven’t read yet.

I’m not reading the way I used to. Or the way I want to. And that grief is its own quiet ache.

Still, I’m holding onto the hope that there’s a point later this year where something eases. Where my brain settles. Where I can sink back into stories without fighting myself the entire time.

I’m hoping it’s stress.
I’m hoping it’s temporary.

Hope counts.

3. Food.

Yes. Your ghoul is a foodie.

To the point where I’m wondering if The Crippled Cryptid needs a food specific tab. Or maybe a Ghoulie Foodie series the same way we have a Folklore Wednesday, what do you think?

If my body is going to be uncooperative, then I deserve good food.

I love cooking. Baking. Trying new recipes. Especially with M&M and Aunt Lise on video call. Learning new techniques. Sometimes things turn out beautifully. Sometimes they do not.

Both outcomes are allowed.
So are the cuss words that follow. I don’t make the rules.

Food is history. Culture. Care.
And I love learning about the world through what people make to keep each other alive.

4. Sour Candy.

Some of you may argue this belongs under food.
I disagree.

I love sour candy to an unreasonable degree. I will absolutely keep eating it long past the point where it starts burning the inside of my mouth.

Recently, I learned that this can be an EDS thing.

If I hadn’t, I would have gone on assuming I was just built incorrectly.

It turns out I’m just built specifically.

Which means that sour candy can, in fact, burn people with Ehlers-Danlos if we eat too much of it.

M&M has to take it away from me after awhile so I don’t hurt myself, even though I think that it’s rude.

5. Travel.

I haven’t gone many places.

But there are places I want to go. Both in the USA where I currently live, and throughout the world.

Worldwide, I’d like to see:
• Ireland
• Germany
• France
• Scotland
• Japan

Within the USA:
• Louisiana, specifically New Orleans
• Disney in Florida (I went once when I was young but, I don’t have memories. Only photographs.)
• California
• The Grand Canyon
• Salt Lake City (I’ve been here but I want to go back)

I’m sure there’s more. I’ll leave that for a future post, so I can explain them better, with details.

Museums. Art galleries. History. Places that feel heavy in a way that might rearrange something inside me.

Even if the change is philosophical instead of physical.

Goals matter.
Especially on the days when everything feels very small.

6. Family.

This one surprises people.

Most folks put family at the top of their list.
Mine lives at the bottom.

Not because they matter least, but because they are the foundation.

This won’t look the same for everyone.
Chosen family counts. Distance counts. Survival counts.

I do a lot for my family. Every single day, I am actively choosing to stay for them.

They hold me up when I feel like I’m coming apart at the seams.

Foundations don’t need to be loud.
They just need to hold.

I shared mine.
You don’t owe me yours.

But if you want to leave a trace in the comments, something that keeps you tethered, I’d like to read it.
You can answer with one word if that’s all you have.
Even if it’s quiet.

If today was heavy, you didn’t carry it alone.
If today was quiet, I hope it stayed gentle.
If you’re here, you belong here.

Love you. Now say it back.

—Sky

© The Crippled Cryptid
Disability, honesty, and a little chaos.

(And a little dog fur for morale.)

🔗 https://linktr.ee/skylanarissa

There’s never pressure to donate. Staying counts.
If you’d like to support the long road toward stability and mobility:
💜 https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-skys-journey-to-health-and-mobility