Chairperson

Being a chairperson is a daunting position that most of us have experienced. The first time is the worst. The kind of chairperson of which I speak, however, is not about leading a meeting,  but about a person who must sit and do everything in a chair. Me for one. My back being what it is these days, hopefully, on a temporary basis, asks, and not even politely, that I skitter about in a contraption called a rolling walker. It's a kind of skate board for elders or the disabled, temporary or not. At first, I found it awkward and embarrassing, but as the chair and I became better acquainted, it turned into a loyal steed. From it, in spite of the furniture that will likely show the chair's bad moments in small scuffs and accidental encounters for years, I am able to do the laundry, cook and clean. None of the above are easy, but with practice and necessity, the keywords, we, the chair and I, manage quite well. Tell that to my back. Please. The height of the conveyance is such that one must often rise, pain or no pain, to see what's going on. The matters of cooking, particularly demand that one look into pots and pans or microwave ovens, mine, the latter, fortunately at knee level for some architectural quirk no one has been able to fathom. Cooking in a chair is rather like pop-upping and downing. Housework done by chair is even less fun than on two sound legs and one strong back, but it is possible. You can actually wield a hand-held vacuum with some dexterity while sitting down. The best part, is being closer to the floor, and thus able to ferret out the elusive dust bunnies that lurk behind doors and in corners. Folding laundry, especially sheets, is quite another matter on wheels. I finally discovered that my chair has brakes. They keep me from flying across the room for no apparent reason. Sheet folding requires flapping dangerously over the vehicle's side and hoping not to glide or tip, thanks to the brakes. After the day is done: the household chores and all, being done more or less, there is grocery shopping, going to the bank and getting the mail. Grocery shopping was a whole new education when I discovered the huge benefits of on-line groceries that are chosen via photos and flyers, paid for by card and later delivered right to your door. That style will be a keeper even when the chair and I part. Banking now, can be done in the most unique ways, We all know about Paypal and its pals but now there is something called e transfers. You can actually pay someone by e mail and it's fantastic. Utterly. Going for the mail is the most fun. As I whiz down the hall in my bright blue metallic four-wheeler with its handy dandy basket out front full of anything, I may meet my co-residers and while they stand and chat, comfortably I sit. When the time comes to say farewell to my faithful chair steed, I might even miss it. But not the back aches.