On a serious note...yesterday evening I was sitting in my car, in the Triangle Town Center parking lot waiting for my daughter to meet me for some shopping. I'd brought a magazine to look at to pass the time. I was amazed to get the last regular parking spot right where the handicap spaces started.
I was pretty deeply engrossed in the article I was reading, tipped my head up for just second to take a sip from my travel mug and froze. There was a woman in the handicap spot one row over from me. She was just closing the gate on the scooter rack attached to the back of her SUV. I watched her...wondering how she would get in the vehicle now that her scooter was safely stored away and she didn't have anyone there to help her. The driver's door was open, so she must have opened that before loading the scooter. (I missed this) She stood there for a minute, then placed both hands on the scooter rack and slowly inched her feet around the side of her ride. She kept her hands firmly placed on the side of her SUV while she painfully and very, very slowly moved toward the open door, stopping every few seconds to catch her breath. It took her almost two minutes to go from the back of her car to the driver's door. When she got to the door, she stood there for awhile, head bowed and then reached inside the vehicle and pulled out a small stool. Placing the stool on the pavement she stepped onto it, paused for a few seconds, slowly turned herself around and using the steering wheel pulled herself into her car. She sat with her feet dangling for several seconds, then grabbing her legs, pulled them into the SUV and turned herself around in the seat. Finally after another break, she held the steering wheel and lowered herself out to grab her stool and pull it inside, before driving away.
I wanted to go help, but I was literally frozen in fascination at such a brave, courageous woman. I don't even want to take a walk around the block for exercise and this woman drove herself the mall and managed to get herself headed back home again. What a lazy, ungrateful person I've become.
Besides the fortitude this woman showed, she looked lovely. Her hair was styled in a blond bob and she wore a deep orange top over a flowy black and white skirt and black shoes. So not only did she take the time to go to the mall by herself, even though she was handicapped, she took the time to look nice while she was there. How many of us think about how we're dressed while we're out shopping?
Resolution to myself: Stop being too sluggish to fix myself up before leaving the house. Stop complaining about every little thing that's not absolutely perfect in my life. Stop bitching when I can't find a parking space close to the door. Think about this woman and be forever grateful for my strong legs and body and stop worrying about the fat around my middle or my ever increasing cellulite. How trivial! I've been moaning a lot lately, but I can't for the life of me figure out why I have anything at all to bitch about. How about you?
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