Five-Star Disability

Hello my readers!

I live in Vancouver, commonly called Raincouver, well because it rains! A lot! Meteorologists tend to call the rain we get here an atmospheric river! I’ll let you figure that out.

You also know that I have a power chair. I love to use it, and try to do so every day, but when it rains cats, dogs, goats, hamsters, and even tigers, I get discouraged and not want use CJ-3.

However, my wife bought be a big poncho; one that covers me, CJ-3 and keeps the rain off me & CJ-3. Naturally I balked, no way was I gonna wear a giant dark blue tent on wheels!

But, today, for the first time, I did use this poncho/tent! At first I struggled to get it over me, and the chair. It seemed to be a two-person job… luckily that second person was walking by and offered to help…

Phew, I was dry, through unfashionable!

I zoomed to a skytrain station, did a search for my mask, which jumped ship somewhere along the way. I actually took off the tent to look in all my coat pockets.

Then, I decided to go back home. I was frozen, I didn’t have gloves… and I need a sweater under my coat!

So, there I was: zooming back home, wearing an oversized tent, dry, working the joystick with a frozen hand, dry still, splashing through puddles and, yes, still dry.

Wait, I was not recklessly zooming home, the tent had a chimney for my head to pop out. Yet, my vision was more obscured! Blind spots aplenty. I did not zoom, but went slowly, carefully, observantly.

And I did my best to parade… “Look! Mr. Mitchell, there is a moving tent!” “No, Ralph, that is not a moving tent, that is a person in a wheelchair. Can you see his face?” There was a fourth grade class at the Skytrain station…

So, because I was dry; I will use this tent more often. I might even give it a name: How about Tent?

Thank you for reading! Stay dry!

As, I am getting ready to publish this, the sun pops out and says “Hello, you don’t need to wear that tent!”