DAILY PROMPT

Help
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

As human beings, when we start to get older, we have a hard lesson to learn about asking for help. You must learn to bite the bullet and asked for help at times. It is quite a shock, you have gotten used to doing everything for yourself all your life.

In the last few years, my balance has gone on the fritz. I have an awful time keeping from falling down. I am now at the point where I almost have a phobia about walking without hanging on to furniture, a walker, a vehicle or anything that would help keep myself steady so I don’t fall down. I’ve been very fortunate to bounce off the concrete or the asphalt parking lots. I used to jump up in a hurry to see if anyone saw me fall.

My falling down has now moved into a different category all by itself, when I fall down now I can’t get back up without help. This is the point where I had to say, “I need help.” The majority of the people are right there and willing to give you a helping hand. All you have to do is ask. Many people will automatically volunteer and assist you. Before you even ask them to.

I recently fell in a parking lot at a Shopko Store. I no more than hit the ground and this great big Mennonite farmer picked me up and carried me over to the driver’s side door of my van. He said, “I will put you here behind your steering wheel where you should be alright.” I was weighing in at a good 180 pounds at that time, he picked me up like I was a 10-pound bag of potatoes. I was very thankful that he was there or it would have been a 911 call no doubt. An emergency room trip to see if I knew who the president was and questions like how many fingers do I see and so on, plus a large bill.

My wife and I are each other’s caregivers and we don’t often ask for help, but we both know those days are changing and they seem to be changing quite rapidly. I can still drive my own vehicle but it won’t be long and I will have to ask for someone to help drive me to the doctor, or wherever I have to go. I still buy our groceries myself. I will use my walker to get into the grocery store and then I use an electric cart that most stores have available, to do my shopping with. You’re sitting down low on an electric shopping cart, you can barely reach anything. I have found almost everyone I meet in the store while shopping is more than willing to help. Whatever you need off a higher shelf is gotten for you.

As long as we can enjoy living in our own home or apartment. We will have to learn to start using that word help. When the day comes you have to move into a care center for the elderly you still need to ask workers for help when you need it too. Most of the workers in the care centers are trained to automatically help you without asking, but they expect you to ask them when you need help.

Volunteer helpers at our hospitals and clinics should be acknowledged for the great volunteer work they do. Valet parking, assisting people with wheelchairs to get in and out of their vehicles and into the hospitals or clinics. These volunteer workers give of their time freely, all in the name of being their fellow man’s helper.

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