By Marty Round

You know how sometimes you just plod along, fairly complacent with the situation at hand?  Not willing to effect any changes that might be risky?  I guess that described me for a short while, but complacency can be our enemy. 

Once I began driving myself to physical therapy and made that one, perhaps two, trips into UPS, I rode that high for a while, otherwise relying on friends to get me other places, to fold up my walker, get it into the car, etc. You know the drill.

Finally, I got sick of being that dependent!  So, that weekend I practiced getting the four-wheeled walker, I call it a rollator, into the bank of my Tucson.  Suddenly, I could get myself to Beall’s Outlet for pants that fit, to the duplicate bridge center, even to the Club to meet my old tennis team for lunch.  Incentives! And I began to feel much more like ME!  One day, with no walker in the car, I drove to Publix, parked in a handicapped spot, and, using only my cane, walked to where the motorized carts are kept.  Then I did my shopping, and, after paying, I motored to the car, unloaded the bags, drove back to where the carts are kept, and walked back to the car.  No more reliance on friends there!

     A really big incentive, one that pushed me even further, was having bought (in June) a ticket to join friends at the Times Union Performing Arts Center to see Hamilton.  Back then I assumed I would be completely ambulatory by mid-October.  I am not!  So last week I called the Box Office to ask if our seats were handicapped accessible.  They are not!  There are 4 or five steps leading down to our seats, not walker friendly.  What to do?  I had two weeks to get more secure using only my cane!  Or to give my ticket away!  Not an option for me!  So last Friday I drove to the Bridge Club with only my cane in tow.  As a safety precaution, the walker was in the car.  It stayed in the car!  I was able to get from the far end of the building to the ladies’ room, a big concern for me, three times…not gracefully, mind you, but safely!  I go there once when I arrive, once during a break in play, and before I leave.  You know the old adage?  Better safe than sorry.

     And at home?  I no longer use my walker to get the mail; I hobble down the driveway, wearing my Medical Alert.  I use my cane to get from the kitchen ( where I usually am and am currently sitting) to my handicapped bathroom.  What good motivators incentives are!  They push us to go beyond our comfort zones.  A ticket to see Hamilton was just the shove I needed!