The Chair Man

I got stuck up against a wall.

I nearly threw myself to the floor.

But other than that, my first outing in the power chair went extremely well. The guy dropped it off in the early afternoon and after going through a few facts about owning a power chair (spoken far to slowly with far to many words) I climbed aboard. After making it through the door, on and off the elevator and then out of the building, I was ready to MOTOR. Just before leaving I was reminded that the roads were covered in ice and that I needed to adjust to being in the chair and the sensitive nature of the controls.

Can that baby move!

We headed towards the mall a couple blocks away, Joe trotting behind me. I had to slow down for him to keep up - and I wasn't on full power. After negotiating the narrow ramp into the mall, I was on my way. I had trouble believing that it would carry me up ramps and down aisles, but it did. After successfully navigating both the book store and the grocery store, I took on the liquor store. That's confidence!

At one point we stopped for tea and I decided to try and see if the seatbelt was long enough for me. It was and I clicked it into place. A good call because after leaving the tea shoppe I put it on full power and zoomed off. I wanted to see how fast it would go. A woman stepped out of a store, right in front of me and I had to come to a sudden stop. The chair nearly tipped over, thank heaven's I was strapped in. My heart hasn't been that fast since the first time I saw Joe.

Once on the way down a long ramp I kind of lost control and wedged up against a wall. It took a bit of time to quell the panic and then steer away from the wall. On the way home we decided to go over to Yonge Street and motor down. Because of the ice we often had to go in single file, but the times we got to be together, side by side were wonderful.

I carried the groceries, books and beer in my bag on the back of the chair, Joe didn't have to push, to carry, to steer - he got to simply walk beside me. I don't know if I have the ability to convey to you what that meant to me. To be an independant partner. To be with without depending on.

I knew the chair would give me independance.

I hadn't banked on it giving me equality.