The husband and I are in that distressing stage where we’re too old to be young, and too young to be old. Life has been good to both of us, and we’re average adults who had suffered no major diseases or handicaps — at least not until last month when the husband found himself with a broken foot and orders to stay on crutches and one-legged for at least a month, after which, “we’ll see”.

Like the old joke about the millipede, I never stop to think about how I propel myself through the day, because if I do, I’ll probably trip over my own feet. So here’s a short list of the new things I’ve had to think about.

1) Being on crutches is not fun and effortless, although it looks that way. Your whole weight rests on your armpits and hands. If you don’t have wrist problems to begin with, you may end up with them.

2) Driving
2A) Driving yourself to and from work may be effortless, but once you get there, you need twice as much “swing room” on your car door, to get you and your crutches out. Although the doctor didn’t see fit to suggest it, we eventually discovered that the DMV has a form that you can download, and that your physician can fill out, in order to get you a temporary handicapped parking authorization.
2B) Although the husband’s work building has at least two handicapped parking spaces (and sometimes four) in front of every entrance, the doors are manual. We still haven’t discovered how to get those open easily, other than by pulling with all your might and inserting yourselves into the brief open space between door and jamb, getting hit by the door, and scraping and dragging what’s left of your body into the building. Or waiting for someone else to enter and hold the door open.

3) Travel:
3A) The husband was a bit too proud to consider asking for Special Assistance at SeaTac, but I pushed ahead with it anyway. With me laden down like a packmule (2 carry-ons — one per person, plus special treatment for the laptop) I didn’t have any spare hands to assist him through the security checkpoints. Thus is was that when we got there, we jumped ahead of the half-hour wait already there, and got to our gate in time to have a quick coffee before boarding (ahead of everyone else).
3B) When you’re driving your rental car around a foreign city, you need to drive to where you want to be, AND THEN look for parking, and not the other way around.

Here’s a picture of Bellevue on the way out on Saturday morning,

…and on the way back, Tuesday evening