I-YOUniverse

3:38 a.m.

The house is still. A nightlight glows in the hall. Outside thunder grumbles, lightning peeks in the windows. Gustav ravages the Gulf. Lord, have mercy.

On the coffee table in plastic bags lies the booty of yesterday’s raids on craft stores.

9 a.m. yesterday.

I load up on pain meds before we leave the house. We drive through Burger King for a sausage biscuit, a bacon cheese wrapper, cini minis, milk and coffee; park in some shade and eat, listening to a Selah CD. In college we used to drive through and eat our 19 cent lunch in the car together.

At Michael’s, the craft store, Sandy lugs my wheelchair out of the trunk. I wish she’d ask for help. (The spiritual drama for today is my control issue. Silently I pray about letting go.)

We find half off beads and things.

• Plain brown wood for the Hail Mary beads
• Wire wagon wheels for the Our Father beads
• A beautiful cream pendant for the main cross
• Rustic brown/black beads for the Hail Mary
• Wire shells for the Our Father
• Gray ceramic beads for the Hail Mary
• Medium black ceramic flat rectangles for the Our Father
• Small crosses, three per package
• Turquoise colored stones for a Christmas necklace
• Twine to practice knots
• Needles to thread beads
• A plastic case to hold everything

I ask the clerk to get some help for Sandy loading the wheelchair into the trunk. No sweat.

By now it’s noon. We come home to take a break, more meds; have leftovers for lunch. But what leftovers! Yesterday Sandy made a filo pie with chicken, dates, olives, ginger, almonds for our friend Mary Fran’s birthday. There are two slices remaining. It’s one of those dishes whose flavor deepens if you leave it a day or two. We had a side of broccoli and rice, and fresh tomatoes from the ceramic pot on the ramp.

After rest and prayers, we make another run. We start with soft serve ice cream cones and coffee at McD’s. Coffee counteracts the sedative drag of meds.

This time to Ben Franklin’s at Short Pump. It’s a brand new store in the upscale part of town. We expect the store to be more accessible than the old one on Patterson Avenue. But the aisles are cramped. I negotiate the wheelchair like a camel in a needle’s eye.

Sandy’s looking at something, and I set off on my own to find some yarn. Suddenly, I find my way blocked by narrow aisles. I can only go one way. Turning corners I get hung up on wire baskets full of yarn and craft supplies. A display of artificial sun flowers blocks the end of the aisle.

 I can’t move.

I call for Sandy. No answer. She’s several aisles away, looking for me.

We mention the problems I’m having to an employee. She says they tell management, who claim they can’t change anything. Sandy says she’ll complain; “Don’t make a scene,” I say.

At checkout I bitch about how cruddy accessibility is in the store and ask for help loading the wheelchair. The clerk calls for Mr. Somebody. Management, I guess. When he sees what she wants, he tells her to get a kid named Henry to help. Henry’s friendly and eager to assist.

Afterthought: I should have insisted that Mr. Somebody help load the chair. Maybe it would open his eyes. That, or maybe I shoulda pulled down the wire display my wheelchair was hung up on.

One fruit of prayer is…patience. Damn.

We play Selah on the car CD.

Home. We talk about making a rosary after dinner. What a great day it’s been! Feels like a holiday weekend. It’s been a year or more since I’ve ventured out this much.

Sandy organizes all the beads. But after dinner, we both agree to put off making anything until tomorrow.

Thanks, Lord! What a great day You’ve given us together!

A bead is a bead is a bead, a knot is a knot—what counts is the heart!

Tags: accessibility, Rosary making, shopping

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 5:25 pm and is filed under prayer, religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.