Traveling with Angie

When I think back about the trips I’ve taken with Angie, I’m amazed we were able to go to as many places as we did. Traveling with Angie was always quite the challenge. There was so much to consider. I needed to bring all her pillows to make her comfortable plus all her supplies. If we went very far, I had to consider the length of time in her wheelchair and plan where we could stop along the way for breaks.  Once we arrived, I needed to be sure I could take good care of her. I needed to go where I had enough help or bring help with me. Despite the concerns, I really wanted to take Angie places. I wanted her to have as normal a life as possible and see different places and people. I already knew she loved going to new places and seeing new things, especially since I knew how much she loved our trips to Lourdes, France. One time I took Angie by myself to Charleston, South Carolina to visit her two brothers and sister-in-law. We drove from Cincinnati in her van and stopped in a hotel for the night somewhere near Asheville, NC. Now, as I reflect on that trip, I‘m shocked that I was so fearless. It was just the two of us on a 650-mile road trip. I made sure we stopped and rested along the way, but found it very difficult to pick her up by myself to lay her down. I remember being in the hotel at night with her and making a bed for her on her foam roll on the floor. Then I almost panicked because I could barely pick her up from the floor to get her into her chair in the morning. I got really scared that I wouldn’t be able to get her back into her wheelchair. In the end, I made it work, but I never traveled alone with her again. Once we arrived in Charleston Yola, Angie’s sister-in-law, helped me get her settled in their upstairs apartment. After that, her brothers were there to do most of the lifting. We had a good time taking a harbor cruise, going to dinner and just relaxing. Angie loved it, and I was happy we had made it safely and got to have family time together. On the way back home, Yola actually rode with me. I was never so grateful for her help and support. We stopped in Asheville for the night and even visited the Biltmore House!

More than several years later I took Angie on a second trip to Charleston, only this time not just to see her brothers, and sister-in-law but also to take a cruise to Bermuda on Holland America. And on this trip, I took her aid along with us. I even took one of my former students who had asked if she could join us. I had the idea that a cruise would be much easier, at least while we were on the boat since the boat would be barrier-free. I had found a great deal that made it affordable, so once again I drove us all to Charleston. After a night with my kids, we headed straight to the boat with Angie and all her necessary stuff. After we got settled in our room, we started exploring and learned that our ship needed to change course due to a hurricane. A hurricane? What would that mean? Well, by now we were committed, so I collected the Dramamine offered to all of us and promptly took it and gave it to Angie. For the first two days we were sailing we felt the effect of 16 – 20 feet waves. (At least that’s what I remember them saying.) Our first evening, we rolled along exploring with Angie leading the way and discovered that pushing the wheelchair was a great way to keep our balance. Most of the passengers were sitting around and looking a little green, but we were feeling fine. We found the nightclub where there was dance music and figured out that Angie could roll back and forth on the dance floor with the role of the ship. She loved it! The place was practically empty, and we had a blast. Once we got tired, we headed back to our tiny room and went to bed, sleeping well with the rocking back and forth.

The next day the sea wasn’t much calmer, so we took Dramamine again and continued to explore the ship. The ship actually worked very well for the wheelchair. We did everything we could do on the cruise to take advantage of the experience. The layout of the boat was excellent for someone in a wheelchair. There’s a lot to do and Angie really enjoyed the time. We all did. When we finally got to Bermuda where we learned that our time there would be cut short because of the length of time it took us to sail around the worst of the storm. Even that worked out well. Bermuda is not at all barrier-free so it was really difficult for us to get around in the city. Once we discovered the problem, we got some help from the tour director.  She actually found a driver who could take us around. This gentleman had a wife in a wheelchair so his car was perfect and he agreed to drive us to see the island. Bermuda was lovely! Our driver was lovely and kind too. The cruise idea worked out pretty well, and I’m glad we did it when we did. Since then, Angie’s health is more fragile so she can no longer travel very far. I’m grateful for the memories we made when traveling was a possibility and I’m very grateful for the pictures to help us keep those memories alive.