Skip to main content

One of those days



It's a tad chilly here today with enough of a breeze to remind you that winter's coming soon. So I knew that I'd need to dress in extra layers for a walk with my friend Kris. (Well, she walks and I ride along in my scooter but you already knew that, faithful reader.) I went to put on my vest, and spend nearly ten minutes trying to get it zipped up - my glasses needed the lenses cleaned and the lighting was bad and the zipper is small and my dexterity isn't what it used to be- which had me scrambling to get out the door in a timely manner for the appointed 3:00 excursion.

And then, I couldn't find the gloves I needed to wear. I wanted the blue ones to match my hat and scarf. Because if you're in a scooter on a blustery day you will attract attention and need to look good, right?

And then the cars were blocking the way for the scooter to get out of the garage. So I had to go back into the house to find the key, then move the car.

When I got on the scooter, I noticed that someone had left the keys in the scooter and in the 'on' position. Which meant that I didn't have enough juice to make it on our 'usual' (doesn't that make it sound like I do this all the time!) route, but I didn't want to just send a text so I figured I certainly had enough to get to Kris' house across the street to tell her and I really wanted to see her. And thankfully I did have enough!

But (there's always a 'but' in one of my 'epic' tales) according to the beeps emanating from the scooter, I didn't have enough juice to get home. Thankfully, I had the charging cord and we plugged it in and stood in the garage chatting for awhile. I truly believed after about ten minutes that it would be enough but the scooter kept beeping. Kris had a conference call in 40 minutes and I didn't want to keep her any longer, believing that my forgetfulness already inconvenienced her long enough, we decided to push the damn scooter back to my garage. 

Once it's put in neutral, its not that hard to push - if no one is sitting on the seat (then the brakes engage after a short while, some stupid safety feature I might have praised had the circumstances been different) and you're not going downhill (then it's hard for someone who has difficulty walking to keep up without tripping while holding on to the scooter) and the handle is straight so the wheels are too.

We were a sight, I'm sure, pushing a scooter down the street on a blustery day. 

And one neighbor and one friend driving by, stopped to ask if we needed help. No, we assured them, we've got this. Or Kris had it.

And once it was back in the garage we made plans to try again on Friday. I plugged it in to fully charge, got back in the house and sighed. As I took off my coat, hat and gloves, I reflected on two things. First that my hat and gloves and scarf matched because indeed I attracted attention - ugh! And second and most importantly, that I am incredibly grateful for my friend Kris - the best friend a ditzy gimp could hope for. 

I was brought out of those thoughts by the sound of my dog in his kennel. And I realized that in my haste to get out of the house, I forgot to put Wally in his kennel yet there he was, which could only mean a self-imposed time-out for a bread infraction. Sure enough, Wally had taken the new package of sandwich thins off the counter and consumed them, ripping the package to shreds and then putting himself in his kennel which, he has learned, is where he goes when he's committed a bread infraction.

I text Kris about it and she responded with, "One of those days!!!"

Yes, one of those indeed.

#theglassishalffull

#oneofthosedays

Comments

  1. I can picture it perfectly! A good laugh over a cup of Joe first thing in the morning. You two are the best!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Parenting

I just read a post on Facebook regarding the dearth of parenting. The poster was describing a scene where two young girls were pelting rocks at some ducks in our little town and how he observed no parents around telling these girls that it was wrong to torture little innocent animals. Within hours, there were 15 responses - all alluding to a lack of parenting that is evident nearly everywhere today. Stick with me here - because that conversation reminded me of one I'd had recently that might not seem related to parenting at all. It was with my oldest son about his concern about the selfishness of our culture - most recently evident in the Wall Street meltdown. He believes that we are too focused on "Me" and not enough on "We" and if we had a little more focus on the total and just not our part, we would be in a much better place. Still there? Okay, here's the cement that will hold this together - those girls pelting little ducks with rocks weren't likely...

Tough time to be a Pollyanna

Remember when 9/11 was just a date or a number you called in an emergency? Our lives changed dramatically post 9/11. For weeks after that September day, we seemed to walk around in a fog, like the haze that loomed over the now-fallen twin towers. I remember trying to minimize my obsession with the news, trying to keep the three little Piggins away from the enormity of the disaster. Remember when corona was simply a beer best served with a lime wedge? It now and forever will be instead associated with this virus that has upended our world in ways we could never have imagined. This tiny little, microscopic virus has brought the mighty to their knees. It has us quarantined and distancing socially (though I believe we've been doing this emotionally for years) and working from home. As anxiety peaks, our economy tanks. As toilet paper and hand sanitizer flies off the shelves, we are looking for new ways to stock our pantries. A good friend observed, "I never thought I'd...

Emily Post of wheelchair etiquette

I've been in my wheelchair now for over a year - sometimes it seems like 20 and others times seems like days. Depends on a lot of things including my mood for the day (whether my 'get-up-and-go' got up and went), the weather (let's face it even the heartiest of Michiganders don't always want to venture out in blustery, snowy or icy days) and what's on the agenda (if I have a date with my hubby or going to see the not-so-little Piggins). Another variable, about my attitude towards the wheelchair, however is what I believe I will receive from some people when they see me in the wheelchair. What I mean is, some people see ME in a wheelchair and others see me in a WHEELCHAIR. Many times someone will see me coming and give me a look of sorrow or pity - it's a look that gets under my skin and makes me want to scream "You don't see me -I'm not pitiful I'm in a wheelchair!" (actually, what I want to scream sometimes includes a few four-letter...