PT Cruiser went bye- bye yesterday and we said hello to a 2007 Saab 97x. My PT was a 2001 so I was due for a refresher. We are thrilled with the new vehicle and can't believe we own this nice of a car. Now the not so fun, I can't go anywhere in it until I get a new lift for my wheelchair. My PT lift doesn't fit the new car so we have go purchase a new one. That all sounds easy right? If you are me, no. Because I refuse to conform. For instance, my lift in my last car had some kind of "cool", "beefiness" to it.......I don't know how to explain. Actually, my PT was the first car to receive this particular lift and it just fit me and my car. It was a VMI Excel. It just had a non-dorkiness to it that just made sense.
It might be frivolous to some, but this is important to me. I've worked hard to be an individual with my own ideas and know my own wants. I don't want to have the lift that every old person and handicapped has. Just because some companies have flooded the market and you feel there's nothing else out there.
We know there are lifts that fit, we just have to find the right one. The dealer tried to help, but didn't have a clue about disabled stuff and so on they were no help. GM has mobility program but it's for new cars and the equipment available through that is not my favorite either. We went to the Mobility place that deals in this stuff and I straight up told the guy what I needed and that obviously I'm putting this into a Saab and not a mini van. I want some thing that is cool and has some type of line and that is functional and I want him to think out of the box for this one. He proceeded to show me the same brochures that are just the walliest of equipment. Nope, I say.
I see a smaller version of my lift up on a shelf. Yeh, that's a used one out of some one's car he says. I like that, does it work? I don't know and my service people aren't here, I'll have to check. As he's saying this, we watching him deflate. They are sales men, just like at the car dealer. He proceeds to tell us they aren't that great. I had mine for 8 years with no problem. But then again he wouldn't be making his commission on the $2,400. dorky one he's trying to sell us.
We took my old one out of the PT before trading it in. So now hubby is trying to figure out if he could cut it down and re-welded it shorter to fit the new car. I think he could do it, but it could take a while and that would put me out of a car for quite some time. Not liking that, already don't like that just today. Plus if it doesn't work or I don't like it we have to wait for one to be ordered (if we can find the right one.)
I know.......there are more important issues in life than this and I probably should just settle, but I can't. This is me and I think this is the drive that has made me not go with the norm of what people think handicapped people should do or be.
School is over for the semester and the holiday bustle surrounds us. There is a bittersweet ending to this semester, the evening painting class that I have attended for about 5 years is no longer. This has been a life changing class for me, I've been taught by one of the best and also have become best of friends with the one teaching. Going back to school, was one of the best things I could've ever done for myself. It made me get out of my box and helped me feel like I belonged. I have been able to discover that it really is okay to be me and there are people that actually "get" me. This class was one of those places kind of like the TV show "Cheers" where everybody knows your name. The group of people was just one of those freak happenings of a bunch of people that came together whom normally wouldn't even think of being together and it just worked. The camaraderie and family like atmosphere made you want to go and learn. On the critique nights it was so awesome, we all brought food. It was a huge spread of items like tamales, cheesecake, taco salads, chicken, cookies, macaroni pie, just everything! Our teacher/ friend is no longer teaching the night class after 15 years, because of cut backs and she is pretty much okay with that in order to have time at home in the evenings. Which I can't blame her for that. She is teaching the day class still which I will take. I'm happy about that, but many of my friends including my hubby won't be able to attend because of their work schedules. It won't be the same. I will be surrounded by teenagers just out of high school who don't give a rats ass about the class and are just in there for the credit. I know this for a fact because that's what my drawing class was like this semester. There are a few from my old class coming, but the dynamic will change. 
