The Sisters – By Lynn G.

When I first became an amputee, I was tended to by my 2 sisters, both of whom live in other states, dropped everything to be with me, and were the moral and physical support I needed. As I healed and found that life truly does go on and that activities are really only limited by my mind, I developed a strange sense of humor, although I never was totally normal–how could I be as a high school teacher for over 30 years?

One day early in my prosthesis adventure, my sister Donna decided that we should go shopping at Kohl’s. Unfortunately, Donna has bad knees and was hobbling around when I suggested that I push her in the store wheelchair; she was in such pain that she agreed. Pushing her around the store, I pictured what we must look like and started laughing hysterically; she started to giggle, too. Then, I thought, “We’re laughing so hard that the salespeople will think that we’re stealing something.” So, I explained to the clerk at the fitting rooms why we were laughing and she just gave us a blank stare. So much for thinking that we were a spectacle!

Then, a few months later, I was visiting my other sister for her birthday when her back was giving her real problems. She, also, took me up on my offer to push her in a wheelchair around a hardware store. I said to her, “You know I’m going to get good mileage out of this.” She said to tell anyone I wanted, so I’m sharing the story with all of you!