My New Wheels: Forays Made Easy

That's right baby, this hot little number is speedy fast, especially down a carpeted hallway.   Good:  I can steer and scoot, I will work some of those sedentary muscle groups, and mostly I look more like an athlete.  Bad:  Mine does not have a basket, so I wear a backpack from the old days-- then I look a little more like an athlete,  the turning radius just a little too big, so I make many 8 point turns, and mostly my poor atrophy knee cries out at actually being used for something like holding me up.  So, now I think I have achieved the height of ambulatory devices:  wheelchair, scooter, walker (2), and crutches.  It makes it easier to accommodate those whining muscle groups and keep my sore self guessing as to balance and speed.

My first trip on this sweet ride was to Old Navy with the rest of Provo and Orem to get my hands on some $10 jeans.  Both of my boys grew like weeds this summer.  Cait grew, but in her usual "who knew?" way.  I guess we will be sticking to the same 4T jeans as last year. It was nice to have a place to sit in the middle of the frenzy.  I couldn't get close, so my mom and kids just brought their finds to where I was parked safely outside the danger zone.

Trip 2 was to the mall.  This thing is the way to go with a crowd.  In a wheelchair, people often forget to see me because I am only 4ft tall.  With the scooter, I can rise to my full 5'3" stature and be seen.  This was especially useful because we were on a time sensitive mission.  I got an email from Shade Clothing Corporate that they shutting down their business for an undefined duration.  Aggghhh, I am in no shape to shop for clothes (on so many levels).  I knew that there was a denim skirt destined for my closet and I raced to the website to find that it had been slashed from $42.50 to $16.99.  SCORE!!!  I must have said skirt.  However, Shade is always too tight and I didn't know whether to order the size that my jeans say or a size larger like the logical part of my brain opted.  I had to try the sucker on.  The mall is tiled,which means lots of  bumps, requiring focus and nerves of steel to navigate.  Luckily, we used the secret entrance to the mall and were there without many crowds.  Shade stores are small.  Jeff paraded me around like a fancy personal shopper, piling clothes on Benjamin as if he were a footman.  Even though space was tight, Jeff is not timid.  I would point, he would "excuse me" his way in there like a pro.  Maybe all the ladies who left their husbands at the door (yes, there were a few loitering about out there)  were shocked at a man voice in a girl store.  I am sure that a bunch of people waited a long time to get a fitting room while I was busy testing Jeff's selections one-legged.  I finally ended up with and a cute fall shirt (which has been slashed $4.50 since).  I rarely have good luck shopping when I actually have the money to spend, so I was really happy.

Mall Museum, yes small, but yes there is a museum in the mall.  Use the outside entrance between Nordstrom and the mall and the spiral staircase (or elevator) will take you there.  I passed through the metal detector with flying colors, nary a beep.  Hey, wait; is it even on?  I doubt that the scooter is surgical steel, I am thinking lightweight aluminum.  I guess we didn't look dangerous enough to turn those puppies on.

Trip Three:  Church.  What could be a bigger spectacle than crutches?  I knee scooter of course.  All the kids in Primary think that this is the coolest ever, even better than me showing them my x-rays for sharing time.  The older boys wanted to know how fast I could go and if I had tried any hills.  Do I look like Tony Hawk?  NO, I am a sissy mom who was ultra careful before my crazy break, no hills for me. They were disappointed in me, but really I lack the proper training facility.  The cracks in the sidewalks are danger on this scooter and there isn't really a place to get up speed without rocks or cracks.  I laughed at them, silly boys.
Epilogue:  Sunday night, I dreamed about cruising on the knee scooter on the river trail near Bridal Veil Falls, going fast and downhill.  Awake, I wondered "I was wearing a helmet right?"