YARD WORK & POWER CHAIR
Entry posted by SandyCaregiver
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Bob always hated yard work at our old home. He'd run the lawnmower over anything. carelessly, just get it over with so he could do something else. I always wanted him to work with me in the yard, and share it as a hobby. He hated that idea. When we moved here, the setting was so beautiful and we both reallly loved the yard. He bought every tool known to man, to work in HIS yard. I was elated! My dream of us working on our yard together was coming true! The other couples in the neighborhood all worked on their yards together, and I was so happy seeing them and thinking how we would grow old and retire and be out in our yard together, just like them, making our home more beautiful.
Well.... I let the grass get way too high. When I cut it, there were so many clumps of grass that the next time my mower choked on it. So, over the week-end, I took Bob out to the backyard, and gave him a fan rake and we started trying to get some of it up. He is sooooo good with a rake or hoe, because his working side is his dominant side! He did a little raking last year, so I knew he could do it. The only problem was, he would get an area raked in 5 minutes, then I'd have to get him up, move his chair over, sit him down, stuff what he raked into a bag, then it'd be time to move him already! After moving him a half a dozen times I began to think of his power chair, and brought it out. There were times when it was a little hard to move, because of bad ground, and he knew he had to keep it on the lowest setting. I told him they were easy to turn over if one was going too fast, and went into a dip or uneven spot. It was really great for him to feel like he was doing it himself.
So today (Tues) we went out into the front yard. We have all these horrid mole hills and I gave him the rake and I used the weed eater while he worked to flatten down the mole hills. After we were done and he was back inside, I ran over the flattened spots with the car, ha, ha!
A few hours later, Bob said (a little aphasia but very understandable) "I wanted to tell you that what we did today, I enjoyed more than anything else we've done or went. It made me feel good to be able to do something, so you didn't have to do it all, and to be able to move myself in the power chair. (just a little translating for you)
I told him how much I enjoyed it too and it was always my dream that we'd do that together, like a hobby, one day. Since his stroke, whenever I would pass others out working in the yard as a couple, I'd feel a pang of pain in my heart, thinking of how much he'd looked forward to working in THIS yard. With tears in my eyes, I told him about how my dream was coming true afterall, and we were working in the yard together.
I don't know what the future holds, no one does, but I thank God for the blessings that come to us one day, one moment at a time.
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