You Get the Lesson Over and Over Till You Get It Right

You Get the lesson till You Get It Right

I was running late this morning when I finally left the house. It was 6:45am. I was dressed, made coffee and even had my working morning usual: bean and green chili burrito covered with Chinese noodles La Choy and hot peppers on the side. This truly is the BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS. This breakfast not only gets me going but, I know, keeps me safe from colds and flu. I highly recommend it to folks who are exposed to cold wet weather. However this is not what I have really chose to write upon today.
So, I am out the door…finely, down the ramp and into the street. I am going to catch the train, just which one—that is the question. The day is still dark and I am warmly dressed: long sleeved Tee(black) slacks, socks and heavy sweater with horizontal stripe across the chest or yeah and my Frankies. There is little or no traffic on my street at this time in the morning so I am cruising down the middle. I have built up speed and I am doing OK. I m fully awake, focused on the road when I somehow hit the “Off” button on my power chair. When this happens the wheel locks, instantly, and the chair ceases it forward motion. Now, the rider does not and if the rider is not belted into the powerchair the rider has nowhere else to go except forward. You know “ objects in motion…” I do not like the control configuration on my powerchair. I feel it is just too easy to hit this “off’ button—in fact, when I hit a bump in the street or other object which causes my hand to bounce—there is a chance that my fingers will come plopping back down on the button and then I fly.
The chair stops(instantly) and I begin my flight pattern. Luckily I had my right arm wrapped round the arm of the chair—this is the best I can since I do not have grip. So holding on as hard as I can I luckily stop the forward motion but now the whole chair is tipping forward. I know the chair will not tip over because the front wheels will eventually hit the pavement and force the chair back on it’s rear wheels. Buy by this time I have began to slide forward—if I do not stop this progress I will end up infront of my chair kissing the pavement will not kissing the pavement ( this would happen if I were flying out of my chair since I am sliding forward, the best I can hope for is to end up in a sitting semi-dignified position.) I hold on best I can gritting my teeth and trying to correct myself. In the end I persevere, gravity pulls down the front of the powerchair and I come to rest sitting up. I am OK. A car passes me in the pre-dawn dusk then no cats at all. I re situate myself and quietly power on. Mind you I do not secure my seat belt even now after this near out experience. My hands are gloved and would require de-gloving finding the ends of the belt, re-gloving and only then continuing on—too much time and effort.
So, I have not learned my lesson. I shall at some point, when I am sitting in front of my Jazzy waiting for a car to stop, or call a cop or trying to crawl back into my chair.