An Act of Kindness...No Matter How Small...Often Gets Screwed Up!

You know, even as a child I could never do anything sneaky...the reason...I'm just not good at being sneaky.  This week just proves that theory.  The other day, I read something sad on our friend's Facebook page.  She posted a story about how some evil little vandals came into her yard and broke some things, including her prized gazing ball decoration.  I was so sad to read this, because she is such a nice person, and she is always doing kind and generous things for other people.  Well, Ken and I came up with another one of our "good" ideas.  We decided we would surprise her by buying her a brand new gazing ball and anonymously place it in her yard.  Well...that was the plan anyway.
 
So Ken and I went to Walmart and purchased a shiny new gazing ball and stand.  After we left the store, we slowly drove into her neighborhood and parked the van a couple houses away so that we could take time to unwrap it and set it up.  After that step was completed, Ken drove slowly up to her house.  He then quietly tip toed out of the car and into her yard and gently placed the gazing ball next to her front porch.  Giggling all the way back to the car, he hopped back in, and we zoomed away.

Finally, after all these years I've finally pulled off a sneaky act without a hitch...or so I thought.  After we got home, Ken and I sat down to eat lunch, still giggling at how much fun we had.

 While munching a mouthful of food, I said to Ken...."Are you sure we put the gazing ball in the right yard?"

"Oh, I'm 99% sure." he said.  

"What do you mean, 99% sure? " I replied with great concern. 

"Well, I've never been to her house before, but I heard it's blue, and that is the only blue house on the corner. " he said as his smile started to disappear.

To make a long story short, later that day we discovered that her house was not blue.  It was light tan.  It didn't take these two detectives long to figure out we had placed the gazing ball in the wrong yard.  Now....what to do....

Our first thought was...well, we'll just go take the gazing ball out of the neighbor's yard and place it in our friend's yard.  But then we thought...oh no...wouldn't that be stealing?  Then we thought...it "technically" wouldn't be stealing...it was "technically" ours until our friend "technically" took possession of it...But then, what if the person in the blue house didn't see it that way and they "technically" thought it was theirs and thought we were "technically" stealing it...and how would we ever explain all these "technicalities" to the police???? Bad bad idea.  How...how...how do we get ourselves into these situations?  We were only trying to be kind. Ken decided the best solution would be to just go to the store and buy another gazing ball and stand...Oh, and since HE was the one who put it in the wrong yard in the first place, he was willing to pay for it out of his monthly fun money allowance...so that even sweetened the deal! 

But, a strange set of circumstances then occurred.  The neighbor in the blue house saw the gazing ball in their yard, thought it was the stolen one that belonged to our friend, and returned it to her! Oh joy!

The moral of this story....If you're going to do something kind...and you are going to be sneaky....just don't get me involved! 

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Hail to the Conquering Heros!

Hello Everyone!

Gee, it has taken me so long to write a blog! We've just been busy with other things I guess.  But, I'll try to do my best to get you up-to-date with things going on with the Davert family! 

You may recall from the June 26, 2011, blog, the kids were invited to participate in a promotion project for the new University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital.  The project was to include a web video and a television commercial.  About 11 people came over to see our home and meet our family.  It was a lot of fun getting to know these really nice people.   Then another crew of about 8 came to film the web video, and a crew of about 30 came to film the commercial and a "behind-the-scenes" video!  It was a legitimate acting job for the kids, and they even had to be cleared by the Screen Actors Guild. It was quite a production.  There were two huge trucks filled with equipment  parked in our driveway, a dozen or so cars parked down the street,  and our garage and yard were filled with people running all kinds of equipment and doing all kinds of jobs.  It looked like a real Hollywood set!   It was incredibly fun, and what a great experience for the kids.   So far, the kids have been in a 30-second and a 60 second commercial, a video about our family, the behind-the-scenes video, and a video about Camp Trails Edge (the summer camp they go to each year).  In addition, their pictures appear on huge banners hanging from a light pole outside the hospital...a huge banner of Austin inside the hospital, a huge photo of them on the side of a U of M delivery truck, and we heard their picture appears on the side of a U of M bus!  Too cool!  We are just glad they are staying so humble through all this fame they are receiving!  They are our Conquering Heros!

The new Mott Children's Hospital opened in December, and we were delighted to go on a tour during their open house.  What an amazing place!  They have state-of-the-art equipment .  Each patient room is private, and there are large flat panel TV's in each room where kids can watch TV, play games, and access the internet.   There were so many people at the open house, that it sometimes took about 15 minutes to catch an elevator.  Michaela found one of her camp volunteers and the two decided to venture out on their own that day.  We thought they were just a few steps ahead of us, but before we knew it...they were gone and we couldn't find them.  It was evident Michaela left the floor we were on, so we tried to call her on her cell phone.  We couldn't get any signal, and there was no efficient way to look for her, because catching an elevator was nearly impossible...and with 12 floors, we had no idea where to even start looking. I completely trusted her friend, I just didn't know how we were going to find her.   So, as a Mom, I knew it was my job to become slightly frantic.   I dashed through the crowd and grabbed onto the first security guard I could find.  I explained to him my plight, and he asked me what Michaela looked like.  That was pretty easy to do.  I just explained that she looks exactly like me, except her power chair is pink.  He told us to stay on the floor we were on, and he would investigate.  A few minutes later (although it seemed like hours), he came around the corner...oh joy!  He found my sweet, sweet Michaela!  "Is this your daughter?" he asked.  Suddenly, the smile fell off my face...Well, she WAS a little girl, but her outfit was pink and her wheelchair was black.  Close, but no cigar!  I know all us cripple people look alike...but really.... So off he dashed again.  A few minutes later, he came around the corner with another young lady... this one looked just like me...only this one looked very, very annoyed.   Yup, this one was mine.  Mommmmmmm!  Why did you send security after me!  I was okay!" she said with extreme anger.  At that moment, I almost said to the security guard...you know, I think that other one was mine after all!  (Not really!)  I didn't care how mad she was, I was just so glad we found her!

If you would like to see the commercials and web videos, they can be found at Michigandifference.org.

Does it take a rocket scientist?

More and more I get concerned about the IQ of most American’s.  Why you might ask?  Well, the other day I bought a new electric pencil sharpener, and it came with an instruction manual. Yes, I said an instruction manual…which read as follows:

            Step 1 - Plug it in.

            Step 2 - Put pencil in hole.

            Step 3 - Push pencil in so motor starts.

            Step 4 - Remove pencil.

It shouldn’t really take a rocket scientist to figure that out.  Kinda scary to think that we need to teach people such basic skills.   When I went to school, I learned useful things.  Things like… I don’t know…tying my shoes and using an abacas.  My kids don’t even know what an abacas is…but they sure know how to use a computer.

And does it take a rocket scientist to realize that it is a bad, bad, bad idea to have a shaky man run a marathon race through the kitchen with his new wheeled walker?  Yesterday, Austin and I were having timed races through the house in our walkers.  Now mind you, we are quite skilled at using them because we have had LOTS of practice.  In comes Ken…who always likes to participate in fun activities…a man who has only been using a wheeled walker for a couple months…a guy who shakes like he is on a caffeine high 24/7 and who trips over his own shoe laces several times a day.  He wants to play too.  Deep down in my gut, I knew it was a bad idea.  I really knew.  But, I thought it would be so fun to watch him try to beat our time. 

So, after Austin, Michaela, and I moved to safety, Ken lined himself up in front of the microwave and pointed himself and his walker toward the back door.  Austin, holding the stop watch yells out,"ready…set…go! And Ken took off in a flash.  He was running so fast he looked like a blur flying by us.  I just knew he was going to beat both our times by a mile.  He headed toward the bathroom, turned around, and headed back to the microwave.  It was amazing to watch…the speed, the concentration, the momentum.  I was in awe….until…the predictable happened.  Just as he entered the kitchen…WHAM!  He ran into the kitchen cupboard and pieces of a cupboard door went flying.  Ken lost control of his walker and nearly ended up on top of my stove!  Bad, bad, bad idea.

The good news is, Ken made it through with only a little ache in his back, but no broken bones.  The bad news is…the cupboard door he broke to smithereens use to hide all of our favorite snacks, and now the dog now has immediate access to them.  We better get it fixed ASAP! 

Oh, Ken, you give me so much blog material!  J  Never a dull moment at the Davert house!

Common Sense

You know, every day I learn more and more about just how sweet Ken can be.  This guy is such a humanitarian.  He has such a soft spot in his heart for all living creatures.  How do I know this?  The other day while pumping gas, he noticed a group of a dozen or so beetles and about half of them somehow ended up on their backs and were wiggling their legs frantically while trying to get back up.  (Sort of reminds me of when I was pregnant with the kids) Anyway, my sweet, sweet hubby stopped what he was doing and took the time to flip those little beetles back over.  What a guy! 

Anyway, on an unrelated note…What in the heck ever happened to good ol’ fashioned common sense?  Oh, my goodness.  Picture this…Four cripple people come into a national chain restaurant to have dinner.  Three of the four are using 160-pound power wheelchairs.  The other brandishing a five-pound wheeled walker complete with beverage cup holder.  Upon arriving, the host person grabs four menus and politely says…”Will that be a booth or table?”  Now, does it take a rocket scientist to figure out that three 160-pound power wheelchairs cannot in any way park on the seat of a booth?  Next time, Ken is going to say…”Booth, please!” and see just how long it takes for the host person to realize that it would really not be a good idea.

Anger Issues

Hello everyone!

Things around the Davert house have been busy as usual.  We dropped both of our sweeties off at camp on Sunday…and I miss them sooooo much!  But, I know they are in good hands and having a great time. 

While they are gone to camp, Ken and I thought we would take the opportunity to have a little vacation.  So, on the way home, we zipped over to Frankenmuth for an overnight stay.  For those of you who don’t know what Frankenmuth is, it is a little tourist town with a German flair.  We had a ball.  We went swimming and had the best old-fashioned chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn.  The Bavarian Inn is a huge restaurant.  As amazing as it may seem, when the waitress seated us, it was the same table we sat at last year! 

This weekend, I realized that I definitely have some anger issues that need to be addressed.  And I do believe this vacation was a good first therapy session.  Whenever things don’t go my way, my first reaction is to get angry about it.  And then I typically stew about it for at least a day or two.  There is probably some deep rooted childhood thing that is associated with my behavior, or maybe it is just a bad habit of mine, but all that doesn’t matter.  I just know I need to be a much more patient person today.

After we checked out of our hotel the next morning, I went over to a concierge desk to ask about our Perks Club points.  I was anxious to get going, because Ken and I had a lot of sightseeing to do that day.  With only one lady in front of me, I figured it wouldn’t take long.  Boy was I wrong.  This lady was the most chattiest person I ever met.  (Is there such a word as chattiest? Oh well, it fits this story so I’ll use it!)  This lady talked about all her ailments, about her friends and their names and ailments, about where she was going next on her vacation and who she was going to visit…and she went on, and on, and on, and on…

I turned back to Ken who was sitting about 30 feet away and gave him a confused and angry look.  He shrugged his shoulders.  I turned back, and the lady was still going.  I then came up with the brainy idea that I would skooch my power chair up closer so I could be seen in her peripheral vision.  Maybe if she knew someone was behind her, she would politely end her conversation.  Well, that didn’t work either.  I learned more about her family, and the people who worked for her…on and on and on...  Then, “angry” kicked in.   I was not only getting angry at that lady, but the concierge behind the desk.  I was getting angry at the lady’s mother who gave birth to her, and everyone who did her wrong in her life who were the subject of all these stories she wanted to tell. 

I was about to blurt out a rude comment in the hopes that they would finally notice my displeasure… when all of our sudden….I remembered something Fr. Bert talked about in church last weekend. (See I was paying attention!)  He reminded us that our job on Earth was to be kind to others, even by simply giving a smile or a kind word.  I realized that I had two choices:  A) to allow my anger to make this a bad situation or B) I could shed a little sunshine in the world.  As difficult as it was for me to hold back my anger, I chose B.  I continued to sit patiently. 

All of a sudden, the lady looked to her side and saw me sitting there. “Oh, my goodness!”  she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry. I’ve just been going on and on and you have been waiting for me.”  I touched her arm gently and said, “Oh, that is okay, it feels like I've known you for a long time!” and I smiled back at her.  “Here, let me give you a gift!”  she said as she started digging through her purse.  “Oh, no, no, no, that is okay, you don’t need to do that.”  I said, as I started feeling really guilty for being angry at all with this really sweet lady.

She pulled out of her purse a crocheted doily she made and gave it to me.  “Here, you take it. Now I made it out of cotton, so you can set a really hot pan on it…” And she proeceeded to tell me all about that doily in great detail.  “Thank you,” I said as she walked away.

Well, I decided, I’m keeping that doily in a special place to remind me about how controlling my anger can make much more positive things happen.  Thanks, Fr. Bert, for your words of wisdom!

Have a great day!

Missy

Paparazzi

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to give a quick update on some of the things that have been going on around our house!  Remember when I was telling you a few weeks ago about a production company coming to our house to see if they wanted to film the kids for a U of M Mott Children’s hospital television commercial… and when they arrived, I had forgotten about the appointment and the house was a total wreck….and Michaela scolded me for being a bad housekeeper…. and we thought their chances of being in the commercial were totally doomed?  Well, low and behold, Michaela’s smile must have shined through all the dog hair tumbleweeds in the house, because they contacted us a few weeks later and asked if they could film the kids for their commercial and a website video!  The kids were so excited.  I promised the production people I would not forget their next appointment (which was this past Monday).  Ken and I spent literally two days cleaning the house.  Every stitch of junk was disposed of and everything else was put in its proper place (or at least shoved in a drawer or closet where it couldn’t be seen).  When they arrived on Monday, the house was spotless and orderly!  J  And a good thing too, because there were about 11 people from Detroit, Ann Arbor and Los Angeles and they brought with them the biggest cameras I’ve ever seen.  They followed the kids around the house like a bunch of paparazzi!  The kids had a ball! 

They were all really nice people and they took all kinds of pictures.  They will be meeting with us about one or two more times to finish up the project.  Can’t wait to see the final product!  We are very glad to help out the hospital in this way because they have been so kind and helpful to our family.

On another subject…I have to tell you, I’m getting a little frustrated with little pranksters these days.  To begin, poor Austin got a virus on his gaming computer.  Now…I ask…if people are smart enough to write these annoying and expensive little virus applications, why can’t they use their smarts in a more positive way…like helping to end world hunger or something?  Why, why?  Instead, a few times a year they choose to zap our computers…for no good reason other than their own little entertainment…and it ends up costing us 70 to 100 bucks!

Well, anyway, later on Monday afternoon, after all the paparazzi left, we decided to take a trip to the mall in a neighboring town to pick up Austin’s computer from the computer repair shop.  When we got to the mall we were very hungry, so we decided to eat dinner in the food court.  We met up with some good friends, Ginger and Mike and their children, and they decided to have dinner with us too.  We were chomping on some delicious food when all of a sudden I heard someone say on a loudspeaker “Employees, leave your work stations immediately.”  And people started hustling their way to the exits.  Not knowing what was occurring…fire, tornado or what…we all dropped our forks, left our food, and headed for the parking lot.  The whole mall was evacuated because some prankster wrote on the wall that there was a bomb in the building.  We couldn’t go back in to finish our food, and we couldn’t go back in to get Austin’s computer that some other prankster had messed up in the first place….Do I sound a little annoyed?  Poor Austin…he still hasn’t gotten his computer back, because we haven’t had a chance to go back to the mall and get it yet.  Hopefully, we will have it back by the weekend.

That’s all the news for now.  Our next assignment is to keep the house clean until the production crew comes back.  Unfortunately, I think the only way to achieve that goal is maybe to move out of the house for a few weeks!  Does anyone have an accessible home with really good food and a big television who would like to take us in?  J

Have a great day!  J

No Free Lunch

Hello Everyone!

What a sunny, warm, beautiful day it has been!  Now that the weather is a little nicer, I don’t mind hopping in the car and zooming around town.  Ken probably isn’t really happy about that though, because I usually end up at the mall, or somewhere where I HAVE to spend money. Let’s just say this nicer weather is making it a little more difficult for me to stay within the family budget.  So, to make up for that little fault of mine, I’m trying to focus on finding ways to save money.   Shopping at discount grocery stores, price matching at Walmart, and buying in large quantities when prices are low are just a few of the ways I try to stretch our funds.

Today, I came up with a great idea to save money.  I took Mom to a doctor’s appointment and by the time we were finished there it was lunch time and we were really hungry.  We were thinking about stopping at Sam’s Club on the way home.  So, I said to Mom with a sneaky smile…”Hey, instead of going to some fast food restaurant, why don’t we see if they are giving away free food samples at Sam’s?”  She thought that was a great idea too, and the price was well within both of our budgets…free!  So, we hopped out of the car and went into the store. 

Low and behold…what a beautiful sight…rows and rows of groceries and at the end of several rows were friendly Sam’s Club employees standing in their little booths with their microwave ovens, mini spoons and cups full of food!  Yee ha!  Free lunch, free lunch!  So, we strolled over to the first booth, trying not to look like we were just there for the free food.

The lady smiled at us and said, “Would you like to try a sample of our chicken chop suey?”  I smiled back and tried not to look too eager as I snatched the cup out of her hand.  “Thank you” we replied as we nibbled away on our first course of the meal.  “Hum, this is really good.” Mom said as she was chomping up the last little bit.  “I think I’m going to buy some of this.”  “You know, this is pretty good.” I said.  “Maybe I should get some too.”

Then we strolled to the next booth, where a lady was giving away some mini tacos.  We chomped down one of those and meandered to the next where a man was giving away BBQ’d chicken nuggets.  Oooo so good. 

In the next booth the lady said with a smile, “Would you like to try some of our seafood salad?”  “Why, yes, yes we would.  Thank you!”  I said as I snatched up one of the cups.  Oooo that was so good.  It was so good I had to go back and say to her “You know, it is really hard to tell just how good it is with only one bite…do you think I should try another?”  “Why I think you should.” she said with a smile.  “Mom, are you thinking what I am?  We should buy some of this.”  I mumbled with mouth full of food.  And, so we did.

The next booth had pasta salad…yum yum….

The next was dessert… pound cake topped with fresh strawberries and whipping cream.  It was so good, we just had to buy some of that too. 

It’s a good thing there were no more booths, because we were stuffed, and our basket was full.  Looking at each other…we quickly realized…this was really no free lunch!  We left that store with $123 in groceries that we didn’t plan on buying!  Well, I guess I’ll try sticking to the budget NEXT month!

Breakfast Compass

Ken just said to me, “I don’t know why I’m so tired tonight.” 

I said in reply, “Well, let’s see.  Maybe it is because we didn’t get much sleep last night and we have been on the go all day.”

Then he mustered enough strength to say, “Oh…yea.”

What a day it has been!  There is no way I can tell you everything that happened, but I’ll share some of the highlights.

All the craziness started this morning.   I realized our dog, Sammie, has a special talent.  He is a breakfast compass.  You know how a compass works…no matter how you turn it, always points north.  Well this morning, no matter where I walked around the kitchen munching on Michaela’s leftover waffles, Sammie continued to point his nose in my direction. Then, he had the nerve to look at me with those big brown eyes (see the slightly embellished photo above), trying desperately to pull at my heart strings, so I would share it with him….No way…Call me selfish, but it was mine…mine…mine!

Ken had to go out of town today, so I was in charge of picking up the kids.  Sounds simple enough. I had some extra time before school got out, so I took my rolling grape and my super sleek and wonderful power chair to my Mom’s house for a visit.  When it was time to pick up the kids I grabbed my coat, said goodbye to my Mom, and headed out the door.  Just then, I realized that I had my super sleek power chair with me and my car will only fit two power chairs.  Yikes!  What was I to do?  I could just leave one of the kids at school for the rest of the day, but I decided that wasn’t the best thing to do, so I hurried back home to drop my power chair off in the garage and zoomed in my rolling grape (within the legal speed limit of course) to school to pick up the kids.

When we got home, there was a mysterious black car parked in front of our house with a man sitting inside.  I pulled into the garage, and all three of us got out of the car.  As I was closing the door on the van, I noticed a second car pulling up in front of our house.  A man got out of the first car, and a second man got out of the other.  One appeared to be caring a large back bag.  They both started walking up the driveway.  Slightly frightened, I zoomed in my spiffy power chair out of the garage to meet them at the end of the driveway. 

“Can I help you?”  I asked as my knees were shaking.  They gave me their names, and I gave them a stare like a deer in headlights…not knowing who in the heck they were.  “Didn’t University of Michigan tell you we were coming?” they said.  Oh, oh….All of a sudden the light bulb came on.  I instantly remembered that some men from a national publicity company were suppose to come up from Detroit to interview the kids about a possible television commercial for the U of M hospital.  Somehow I forgot to put this very very very important appointment on our calendar.  This was NOT good, because I realized that our house was a total WRECK before I left home. 

We had junk all over the place.  There was a 20-pound bag of dog food on the kitchen cupboard, right next to the moldy bread I forgot to throw away.  The kitchen table was a mess, along with my kitchen cupboard.  And the floor…the lovely floor, it looked like a NASCAR race had occurred just moments before, because there were super spiffy power chair tracks all over the place as a result of the rain and snow the past couple days.

They were really nice guys, and they asked the kids all kinds of questions.  Just then, I felt a sense of doom…they asked me if they could take some photos around the house to take back to their producer.  Michaela gave me the evil eye, because she really wants to be in the commercial, and she was quite certain her chances were slim to none after they saw our house.  Our only hope…maybe, just maybe, they didn’t notice the disaster that surrounded them.

As they were leaving, they said they would contact us in a couple weeks to let us know if they wanted to include the kids in their advertising campaign.  When the door closed behind them, I gave Michaela a look, very similar to the look the dog gave me in the above photo.  She grabbed me by the shoulders, pulled me toward her, and said, “Mom, let this be a lesson to you…you need to do a better job cleaning the house!”

The moral of this story…Always keep your house clean, for you never know when publicity people will be stopping by.

Go Blue!

#35 - Kroger Calamity

Hello Everyone!

It’s been another blog-filled day!  Michaela and I pulled into the garage with the rolling grape oozing with junk food.  Ken met us at the car to help us out, and with his super sweet and cheery voice he said, “Well, how was your afternoon?”  I looked at him with my eyes glazed over and said  ”Ken, I just spent four hours grocery shopping with two cripple people and a Mom with an injured foot, need I say more?”   Let’s just say it was a shopping trip I won’t soon forget.

My Mom injured her foot a few weeks ago, and she needed someone to take her grocery shopping.  Have you ever gone grocery shopping with a wandering Mom and a daughter with a power wheelchair?  Let me tell you, it’s like spending four hours trying to herd cats.  Every time I managed to gather them both up, something would catch their eye and off they would go.  Thank goodness for cell phones, or I’m sure I would have lost them forever.

Mom had a very long list of things to buy, and we needed nothing.  However, NOTHING is NOT what we bought.  Michaela and I broke the most important rule of grocery shopping…NEVER GO GROCERY SHOPPING WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY.  We were both a bit hungry, and everything on the shelves looked so good to us.  As my Mom hobbled along gathering meat and vegetables, Michaela and I zoomed along in our stylish power chairs grabbing only the things that looked particularly tasty…you know, things like ice cream, cookies, candy, pizza, and the list goes on and on.  We even bought the dog some goodies. 

As we were zooming along in junk food land, Michaela decided she wanted me to stop by Taco Bell on the way home to buy her some nachos and cheese.  I gathered the small amount of patience I had left for the day and replied to her with a soft and happy voice, “Michaela, we have a grocery cart full of junk food and frozen ice cream, we are not going to stop by Taco Bell.” 

Well, do you think that was the reply she wanted to hear?  I think not.  “Mommy….Taco Bell,” she repeated again.  “No, Michaela, no Taco Bell,”  I replied.  Well, for the next several aisles, all I heard was this sweet little voice behind me…”Mommy, I want nachos, Mommy I want nachos, Mommy I want nachos….”  “No, No, No,” I replied.  “Mommy, I want nachos…Mommy…....oh....look at this adorable Teddy Bear!…Can I have it?  I’ll pay for it,”  she said with delight.  “Ah, why, yes…yes, you can… IF you promise not to ask me to stop by Taco Bell again,” I said with a commanding dwarf-like mom voice.  “Oh, I promise Mom!”  she squealed.  She grabbed the big squishy cuddly blue thing and gave it a big ol’ hug.  Finally peace and quiet.  Well, that lasted about two aisles when I heard, “Mommy, can I have Taco Bell?” again.  Well, my patience had grown weary by this time, and I took the little sweet cuddly Teddy by the neck and said, “Michaela, I’m gonna put Teddy up here on the shelf with the canned vegetables if you ask me one more time!”  Ah, quiet once again.

All of a sudden my Mom comes limping around the corner with her basket and in a frantic voice she exclaims  ”Help me find the tooth soakers!”  “Tooth soakers?  What in the heck is that?” I said.  “You know, tooth soakers!” she replied in dismay.  After several minutes of looking down the toothpaste aisle, I finally figured out she was looking for Polident!  You know, I think older people just like to confuse us, just so we don’t realize they are the ones who are confused!

Just a few minutes later what to my wondering eyes did appear?…The checkout counter!  Oh, what a beautiful sight!  Finally, our shopping adventure is complete….or so I thought.

My poor Mom started unloading the groceries…one at a time, upon the conveyor belt.  It was a tedious and long process because she was having difficulty managing with one foot.  I was not any help at all, because I knew if I tried to help, I would end up head first in the grocery basket with my feet sticking up in the air.  The line behind us grew longer and longer.  Not because it was taking us so long, but also because the other customers were laughing and finding us amusing.

As soon as Mom finished loading her groceries on the checkout counter, she started loading ours.  When Michaela saw her cute little cuddly Teddy bear headed down the conveyor belt… she knew he was “officially” hers…And guess what she blurted out?  You guessed it…”Mommy, can I have Taco Bell?”  Augh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Mom was all checked out, she looked at the cashier and said “How much is hers?”  The teller looked at Mom with confusion and said, “I don’t know Ma’am, I haven’t checked out her groceries yet.”  I looked at the lady waved my hands over the groceries and said, “Well, why don’t you just take an estimate and that will be good enough.”  I guess that is not their policy.

Well, there was one more problem I hadn’t yet thought about….How were we going to get two carts of groceries in my little rolling grape with three people and two power chairs?  My first thought was…why don’t I just leave Michaela there, that would solve the Taco Bell problem...but she didn’t like that idea too much.  So, I looked at the bag boy and said, ”Do you have any bungie cords? Maybe we can tie some of these bags to the luggage racks.”  But he didn’t like that idea.  I’m sure he looked at my rusty old car and realized he wasn’t going to get a tip big enough to warrant that much effort.

So after we loaded Michaela and Mom into the car, the bag boy stacked and stacked and stacked the groceries until he could stack no more.

The final step was to fold the wheelchair ramp up.  As it closed we heard squish, crinkle, snap, smunch as it pushed the groceries in as far as they would go.  We looked at each other, smiled, and had a good laugh!

Just another ordinary day!

Love,
Missy