It was quite the tussle. I had gone through the grocery line, picking up stuff for the hotel rooms we’d be staying in this trip, and was about to head off. I was getting my chair angled just right so I could push the cart and chair by myself. This is something I’ve learned to do this fall with all the travel and I enjoy doing it, it’s a challenge of balance and being exactly at the right angle so that the left arm is holding the cart exactly right and the right arm pushes the right tire.
The clerk was insistent, really and somewhat aggressively insistent that she would push the cart up to the customer service desk where Joe was standing in line. I held my ground and said no several times, she told me it would be quicker and I told her I didn’t care. There was a line up of people at her till who were watching at first with interest and then with a ‘come on let’s go’ look on their faces. I didn’t blame them.
Finally and loudly, NO, I LIKE DOING THIS.
She flung her hands up angrily and went back to work.
I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I got in position and then, pushed. I had it right. I was going, slowly, in a straight line. One of those watching was a man with an intellectual disability bagging groceries two tills over. I heard him muttering to himself as I went by, “I need to do that. NO I CAN DO IT. I need to say that.’
He looked up and saw me, he knew I had heard him, he smiled and waved
I had done it because . I could and I wanted to and that’s reason enough. I’m guessing that that young guy has a new tool in his belt … his voice … and I hope his world changes because of it. Mine does, every day.
