Yesterday, it rained like CRAZY ALL DAY!!! Normally, the rain makes my body hurt quite badly but yesterday I felt okay in spite of the torrential rain. I was soaking wet when I got into Barwis. Whenever people see my chair topper in motion, they always comment about how cool it is. I admit, it IS pretty cool. I can drive myself places by myself and I do NOT have to drive a mini-van. I tell people that I can’t park a van and I’m too cool to drive one. I can’t afford to drive a modified van (they cost $20,000 to modify plus the cost of the van!). The chair topper was substantially less (The MS Society and MRS (Michigan Rehabilitation Services) Clinic paid for it). It took a year of negotiation but finally my currently owned vehicle (A 2012 Chevy Malibu) was modified with hand-controls and the chair topper. So, whenever people tell me how “cool” my chair topper is, I tell them, “EXCEPT in the rain!” Then I explain how it has one speed upon engagement so when it is raining, I get DRENCHED! As I did yesterday.
i got into Barwis and took my hood off to see Brock walking holding two kettle bells. I didn’t talk to him because he was working but I knew that it would be a good day because I saw Brock.
Again, Phil was sitting on the table waiting for me. He commented on how soaked my clothes were but I really couldn’t help it. He stretched me as I sat in my chair and then we traded places. He put me on the table and he sat in my wheelchair. I told him that I don’t feel as bad as I normally do in the rain. I told him that I feel better. He nodded at pointed to my dangling feet. He said, “Look at your legs!” with a kick at my feet. My legs WERE relaxed which is uncharacteristic given the weather. He poked my quads a little and had me bend and extend my legs. I asked him how it felt and he mouthed the word, “better.” SCORE! It was nice to feel okay. Phil then had me lie on my stomach and he stretched my legs. It kind of hurt but I knew it was for the best. I grunted as Phil was stretching me and he asked if it hurt. I told him, “No, I ALWAYS grunt like this.” He then had me sit up and put my arms out to either side and bend forward and then sit back up. Before I could put my arms out, I HAD to start in 1st position. (DUH! It’s 1/3 of my ballet knowledge!). I told Phil and he laughed at me. Once my arms were extended, I bent over and Phil pushed on my shoulders down. Once he let go he told me to put my head up, push my shoulders back, and sit up. We did this 15 times but it didn’t start getting difficult until my tenth time but I was still able to complete all of them.
When my time was up, Phil pushed me to the chairs to get my jacket and bag. Then he pushed me to the roll down door and told me the plan. It was STILL raining like CRAZY so he told me that he was going to put my bag into the car, leave the door open, and carry me to the car, and bring my chair once I am in the car. That is what he did and I screamed once the rain hit my head and again once I felt that Phil was running. He told me to, “shut-up” before we got to my car. Once in my car, I told him that he was chivalrous because he saved me from the rain. He stowed my chair away and we didn’t fist bump or “Joystick’ because it was POURING and he already had, “Joystick”ed me earlier.