Living Well with Parkinsons Disease
Dancing in the Rain: Lessons Learned on my Personal Journey with PD (more at www.PDPlan4Life.com) Copyright 2013-20 Sheryl Jedlinski
“When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping”
There is a saying that “when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.” These are words I live by. I shop when I’m happy and I shop to make myself happy when I’m sad or stressed out. This explains why Tony and I ventured out on a Saturday, days before my scheduled knee surgery and at the height of back to school shopping, to buy accessories for our newly remodeled bathroom.
I traversed the first store with Tony pushing me in a borrowed, light weight wheel chair. We quickly discovered it had no basket, adding a new challenge to shopping. With 12 plastic organizers in different shapes and sizes piled high on my lap, I couldn’t see a thing in front of us, and just trusted that Tony could steer us clear of trouble.
Things were better at our second stop where there was a fully charged scooter waiting for me. Granted it had only one speed – slow as molasses — but even that is faster than my current walking speed. I am certain that this “speed” was calculated not for safety, but to ensure that drivers have time to study every eye level item we pass.
When we went to check out, customers were four deep in every lane. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sales associate heading toward a dark lane next to us and I cut diagonally across so I could be first in his line. Unfortunately, I overestimated the scooter’s turning radius and bounced off an end cap full of DVDs. Fortunately, only my pride was hurt.
I threw the scooter into reverse, which started the horn blaring like we were under atomic attack. People rushed over from all corners of the store to see what was happening. I wanted to slump down into the scooter, but there was nowhere to hide. The only thing worse would have been if I had to paralell park.
Tony grabbed the scooter handle and tried to straighten me out… while I was still in reverse, of course. I switched back into forward and he shoved the slow moving scooter into the DVD rack. I felt like I was in a bumper car, and hoped I wouldn’t suffer whip lash. The cashier did everything he could not to laugh.
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Read more of Sheryl’s humorous stories and helpful tips at PDPlan4Life.com
Living Well with Parkinsons Disease 