Wheelchairs -- yea or nay?

I got up at 9:30, ate a new breakfast -- blended hot cereal -- brushed my teeth and went outside to ride my handtrike before Irene struck.

Too late. Drizzle started when I was still in my chair, and as the rain began to fall, the energy seeped out of me. I went back inside, read for a while, then napped till dinnertime mostly. Now, it is early but I feel like going to bed.

At some point, just before my nap started in earnest, my 8-year-old niece disappeared into the other room and came back sitting in and wheeling my manual chair.

She told me she had brought out my other chair, just in case I thought the wheelchair maybe belonged to some random person she saw on the street.

She then said, "I love this thing," as she wrestled to get it up a tricky threshold at Mom and Dad's.

A wheelchair is not so lovable when you are on the third floor of a building during an earthquake. No one quite knew what to do about me, or my officemate who uses sa chair. We finally just rode the elevator down fine.

It's not so cool when it rains either. Before the brunt of Irene, I went out this week to let Claren pee. It was just sort of spitting so I went myself. That soon turned into a downpour. My top was fine, but my thighs were soaked, sitting parallel to the ground as they do.

Fitting under tables -- not so cool either.

Visiting people who aren't in wheelchairs usually requires sacrifices.

Wheelchairs are easy to love unless you are stuck in one.