She was right on time, my newly-hired driver. It was 9am and I was ready. She rang the doorbell.
The first thing that struck me was how much faster things
went. For weeks I had been grabbing my
purse, sunglasses and keys, walking myself through the house to the garage,
unlocking the door to the truck, and heaving the aluminum walker over the
driver’s side panel before securing it with a recently-installed carabiner
(which had been a story of its own). Probably
took five or seven minutes at least.
But with the new routine I found myself out of the house,
seated in Betty’s little Camry in the driveway, buckled up and in motion within
two minutes. Now, those three extra
minutes might not seem like much to you, but to me it felt like warp
speed.
Walmart is 1.8 miles from my house. Same no matter what vehicle I’m in,
right? Even though the Camry doesn’t
have handicap plates like the pickup does, we still easily saved another five
minutes. By the time she parked and
joined me inside, I was already paying for my sausage biscuit. Because who wouldn’t if they hadn’t been out
of the house in several days?
After a brief discussion of options, we decided the walker
would fit inside the shopping cart and I wouldn’t have to use one of those big
clunky store scooters. Off we went to
the shoe department. Because I hadn’t
had much success with ordering online, I felt it necessary to actually try some
on my actual feet. What a concept! Maybe when you are my age you’ll have your
own quirks. There wasn’t any place to
sit to try on the ones I picked, so off Betty went to solve that little
problem. She found one little bench way
over in the Men’s Shoes area, so we high-tailed it over there. Five minutes later, there was one pair of $25
shoes in an actual shopping basket in an actual Walmart store. Success.
Next on the list was to look at rollators. Real ones, not pictures of them online. I had no idea if I could even lift anything
heavier than the aluminum one. Long story
short, we discovered I can lift a sixteen-pound one but not a
twenty-pounder. Who knew?
Mission accomplished.
Two items seen in person, one purchased.
Two hours on the time clock for Betty.
Money and time well-spent. Plus, I
got out of the house, ate a meal, and had a nice little nap when I got
home. God bless patient people like
Betty who are willing to help slow folks like me. Amen.
PS: My new shoes are
not much to look at, but they feel safe and comfy and they fit well. My journey
continues.
