SATURDAY

It's Saturday and some friends have offered to drive me to Annapolis for a late lunch. It's a beautiful day. I tossed and turned all night, worrying about my foot and starting work next week.

I ordered some new clothes online, as shopping is awful in a wheelchair. Stores push clothing racks so close together you can't wheel around them and spend the entire time figuring out how to get out of the clothing jungle. You're invisible to other shoppers and they run right in to you. You can't reach the cashier's counter. Most stores have front doors you can't get through because they open outwards and you can't pull them towards you from your chair. I've waited for other shoppers to open doors for me but sometimes they just brush past you. My mother, God bless her, stormed out of one department store when my chair couldn't squeeze into the fitting room. She made sure to let the saleswoman know why we were leaving and not trying on the hundreds of dollars worth of clothes we'd picked out.

It's a whole new life as a "disabled" person.

This morning I tipped my housekeeper 20 bucks just to set up my ironing board.

Annapolis is a historic district and that scares me. Steep inclines, second floor restaurants, etc. I'm hoping to have fun but each day in a wheelchair is a challenge.

And more incentive to get the hell out of it...

And most definitely more reason to fight for the rights of the disabled.