I avoided that corner of the store completely. I’d seen it of course, it was hard not to with them all either raised high or crouching over there, many looking ready to pounce. They weren’t going to get me, that was for damned sure. But as we went round the store with a clerk helping us with an enthusiasm that was a little off putting, we got closer and closer.
I’d point to this one or that and the clerk would snap out the tape measure and measure the to see if it topped 21 or if it came in under. He had an odd way of taking the measurement, he’d get the tape in place and then bend from the waist down to see the result, he looked as if he’d been cut in half each time, why he didn’t crouch I don’t know.
Finally, it was time.
We looked at a model that was crouched and the controls were handed to me. I raised and lowered, raised and lowered, set on crouch and then tried another. Finally I came to one that I thought looked comfortable and maybe, just maybe, would work for me. I had come in determined not to get one. I had classified them as for ‘other’ disabled people, not for me. But, I might have, I thought, joined another demographic.
Joe and I talked about it and the clerk left us alone. I got out of my chair, sat down in the lazyboy recliner with the electric assist lift function and then let it get me up enough that I could stand easily. I don’t stand up well, I often lose my balance, I often struggle, even on my chair on blocks at home. You read that right, chair on blocks, don’t judge me.
This new chair was a comfortable sit, it comes in under the 21 inch level I need for getting up, but with the push of a button it lifts me there, and, okay, it reclines nicely.
I didn’t want to buy one.
But, I’m going to.
When we get back from this trip we are getting rid of my old chair, the blocks it sits on, and install this mechanized beauty.
Yep, I have a brand new identity.
Here’s to diversifying, yet again.
