Grocery Shopping

I was going to do this right, with pictures and everything, but that will have to wait until I am able to take pictures.

At the 2008 Big As TEXAS Assembly, there was a workshop about scooter useage given by a woman with pulmonary hypertension. She has a professional job, and uses her scooter (not a TravelScoot) at work and anywhere she needs to walk more than a few steps. She has a van with a lift, and is well versed in how to lead a productive, happy life while using a scooter. One of the things she talked about was using her scooter in the grocery store. Her scooter has a small basket, but that's not enough room to shop for family groceries. What she does is to get a regular grocery cart and park it somewhere in the store. She goes and gets things and brings them back to the cart. She also has a laminated sign that she puts on the cart to keep the store employees from thinking it's an abandoned cart.

I do something similar, without the sign, but I try to pick stores that aren't crowded and have fairly wide aisles. Our Super Target is good for this sort of shopping. I control my scoot with my right hand (that's the side the throttle is on), and grab the front right side of the cart with my left hand. I can actually roll it behind me like that if I need to, or if the aisle isn't crowded I can roll it beside me. Sometimes I just leave it and bring things back to it. It's worked really well so far. When I get to the checkout I go in front of the buggy and pull it behind me. Then while the person in front of me is checking out I stand up and unload my cart. It's not a perfect method, but it works pretty well. I appreciate my independence very much, and I'm willing to be creative about my shopping methods in order to have it.

One cool thing about using the scooter in a big store is how fast it will go. Who cares if you're all the way in one corner of the store in the dairy section and you remember you need a cell phone charger from the complete opposite corner of the store? Just zip right over there, taking great care to SLOW DOWN if there are people walking anywhere near you.

Yes, that was the day I heard the comment, "Look Mommy, it's a rocket!"