Stow-Away

Shopping trips are a highlight for many mobile residents and are frequently filled to the brim making it necessary to use the bus (eight seats and one wheelchair bay).  Tuesdays and Thursdays are devoted to these trips, with Shopping Centres on Tuesdays and Grocery Stores on Thursdays.

Today was no exception and the destination was Wal-Mart or Winners.   I loaded all passengers in and asked the question “Wal-Mart? Winners?” to each passenger as they boarded. Believe it or not Wal-Mart wins every time.  Every one was aboard with  the exception of the final passenger, a 100 year old lady, and when asked the question, whispered, with a wink,  “neither – I’m just tagging along for the ride – it can be our little secret.”

[And it was]  I drove out to Wal-Mart, helped everyone off the bus and got the wheelchair passenger out, and got back on to see this little lady sitting so happily in the seat. The others would figure she was on her way to Winners right? She said,  “Now just take your time driving back.  Since I can’t walk I need to make my absence look like I was exercising as usual” and giggled.  As we drove through the city streets, many probably drastically changed over her 100 years of living in this fine city, I would glance back in my mirror and see a watered eye as she watched house and garden go by, snow bank and white yards, and just take it all in.   

When we got back she commented on “how wonderful that excursion was” and thanked me profusely.  She said she felt “liberated” again and “the four walls won’t seem so closed in now for awhile.”

I said it was my sincere pleasure to have her as company.

I thought afterwards and before I sat and wrote this, how sad it is that one can live so long, and still feel trapped by an environment, and still want to get out, move, walk, take a ride, anything.  This very same lady once answered a question I asked about how one makes it one hundred years by telling me, after a thoughtful pause – “attitude!”   She is so right!

[Just as a little backup info for you – this lady has had a couple of falls lately and after being so active has lost her confidence to venture out alone or at all depending on the weather and sidewalk conditions – this set-back was so very obvious when she was my “stow-away” today.  Her attitude will keep her going regardless I figure]