HIS LAST TRIP TO THE BEACH

 

Starting with an undergraduate degree in Rehabilitation Science and a graduate degree in counseling psychology and business in the mid-70s, my career was spent managing various rehabilitation units, hospitals, and outpatient clinics until I retired seven years ago.  I thought I knew everything related to disabilities, equipment, and treatment. Still, I wasn't as knowledgeable as I thought, or it's possible that there have been major advances in equipment in the past seven years.

 

We had finished our midday walk on the beach. As we were heading toward the door to our condo building, a massive, amphibious wheelchair that contained a much older man and what appeared to be his son working diligently in deep sand to navigate the wheelchair was inching toward us.  I had never seen such a marvel of invention as that wheelchair, even though the price of the chair, at $3000, is out of reach for many people.

 

The man in the chair was in poor physical shape, with his legs tremendously swollen from lymphedema and his head fixed permanently downward. It was tough for him to look up, but he later thanked us for helping. His wife was walking alongside the chair and helped as much as possible, but she was also elderly.  All three looked exhausted but were determined to finish their task against all odds.

 

A cheap plastic chair was on the landing above the three steps. I could foresee a disaster, but fortunately, a muscular young man offered to help the son.  I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, so I gripped the plastic chair in a feeble but hopeful attempt to assist the wheelchair passenger with no control of his lower extremities.  The two male helpers carefully eased the man up the stairs, one slow, tiny step at a time, as he had to rest between each movement as both men took a firm hold.  Finally, the man was carefully lowered into the plastic chair, then cautiously transferred into a regular wheelchair.

 

When I got closer to the man and heard his labored breathing, I firmly suspected that this was his last trip to the beach.  For one last time, he wanted to float on the deep blue sea and feel the waves overlapping the chair.  He might have remembered being a boy swimming in the ocean with the delicious cool Gulf breezes blowing through his hair. His wife and son were determined to make it happen. The man seemed happy to have accomplished this tremendous feat, and his family was grateful to succeed in granting his wish.  It wasn’t long before I saw the lovely family load their van and drive away.

 

The love of a son for a father is sometimes boundless.  I was fortunate to witness love in its finest form.