What a Day

 by Marguerite Lamothe

It was a warm and windy sunny day and Robert and I finally decided to take our online relationship a little further. He advised me that he may not be the person in whom I dreamt of him to be, but I could not understand what he was talking about. I was excited. We had planned for an array of different activities for the day. We were going to go see a movie, go to the park, and get something to eat. This was going to be the best day every for certain. It was 11 a.m. and the doorbell rang. After making some finishing touches and one last mirror check I jolted towards the door. My heart would not stop beating, as soon as I opened the door, a look of excitement came across Roberts face and a look of shock came across mine; he was in a wheelchair.  I wanted to close the door shut but decided to just tell him to hold as I got a cardigan to cover up. I thought to myself I hope this date still goes as planned. I got into his car and we took off.

I had never actually realized how un-wheelchair friendly the movie theatre parking lot was. The number of spaces was extremely limited to the point where we had to drive a great distance from the entrance. We got out the car and the only thing I could wonder was how he was going to get out; he needed my help or so I thought. As soon as I came up close to him he insisted that he was ok. We started to walk towards the theatre when I quickly looked for a ramp, the only thing close enough was a small space in the ground which he could easily roll on to get on the sidewalk. I never would have realized how difficult it was to do something as simple as go to the movies until today. We approached the counter and it was too high for Robert to reach. Once we got to the door me and another person had to hold open the doors for him to pass through. I could only imagine how hard it would have him been for him if someone was not there. As we walked in it seemed as though all eyes were on us.  I almost always go to the highest level at the theatre, but today we had to sit on the floor level. That was an uncomfortable and near blinding experience. I honestly just wanted to go and head out to park for some privacy. What could go wrong there.

I had never been to Kennesaw Mountain Park so that was the place to head to. How bad could that be I thought. We arrived and thank goodness there was plenty of space. We hoped out the car and began our journey of a walk. I was filled with questions and was nonstop. After awhile though I started to realize that his comfort level went from up high to down low. I couldn’t tell if it was the conversation or the rocky pavement so I quickly ended both. We then headed to get something to eat.

We were exhausted, hungry, ready to finally get this date going so we both decided to head out to this one resturant I used to always go to. It was pretty packed and little to no space for someone with a wheelchair. So what I decided was to grab us both a meal and head to the Kennesaw mountain park’s grill area.  All I can say is what a day.