A NEW CHAIR

There are people who will shop and shop and shop for new furniture.  Oh the joy of a new chair.  Or table.  Or couch.  Or even a new pillow.  I am not one of those people.  I am not a shopper.  Notice the period after shopper.  I have never been a shopper, except in a fabric store or book store. Nope, once I find the furniture I want it stays where I put it.  No moving the couch across the room.  No moving the table under the window.  And yet, I have a new chair and it does not stay put.

Because of being over confident and not paying attention, this week I landed on the ground when I tried to get in the car.  I was putting one foot up and it was then that the other foot found the wet leaves.  This is not a good combination. Now that a few days have passed, you have my permission to laugh at the image of my being upright one moment and flat on the ground the next. What does this have to do with a chair?

The chair has wheels.  I have to stay off my right leg (broken bone) and my hubby is pushing me to various locations in our home.  Poor guy!  “Would you please get me a drink?”  Or a lot of other items I might require.  “I would like to sit in the other chair.”  This means getting up, getting in the wheelchair, and being pushed across the room.  “I need to go to the bathroom.”  And this is where the challenge comes in.  Our home was not built to accommodate a wheelchair.  Even with the door off (There are now three doors not hanging on their hinges.), the chair barely fits through the bathroom door.  And I wish the person that designed the nice little entry into the bedroom had to try and maneuver the chair around that jog.  Bill gets me where I need to be and he has done this with great patience.

I have learned many things.  It is hard to stand up and not put pressure on my leg.  It is hard to move around to get in and out of a wheelchair on one leg.  It is hard to get into bed with the boot on.  And I cannot get to my computer.  I now have a new understanding of what life is like for anyone who has to use a wheelchair and has limited mobility.  

I have been guilty of observing a person’s medical needs without stopping to think what those needs require.  I will no longer look at a wheelchair as a convenience that got me through the airport.  I will look deeper to see the struggle.  

Even though I have had many health issues, I have always been able to do many things myself.  I never imagined how hard it would be to ask Bill for everything I need.  Remember these words from a song:  Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.  I have always known I wasn’t perfect, but I now know I am humble.  I learned humility the instant I had to say, “I need to go to the bathroom.”