Go Go Gadget Wheelchair

  Every morning I make coffee for my fiancé and I. There aren't many things I can physically do to help him around the house (he does the cooking and the laundry) so waking up and making coffee is something I take pride in, because I love and appreciate him.

  He often gives me our coffee cups after they've been washed. I keep them by our bed so that I can take them into the kitchen with me. I can't climb on the counter to reach dishes, because the curve of my spine has become so severe that I can no longer stand on my wheelchair or climb. I don't want to wait until morning, because the point of me making coffee is to let him relax before he has to spend the rest of the day helping me.

  However, one day I forgot to get the cups out and the next morning, I was faced with the frustration that the cups were up in the cupboard where I couldn't reach them. I was considering waking my fiancé up, but knowing him once he got the cups, he'd insist on making the coffee - not because he doesn't think I can, but because he loves me that much.

  So instead of waking him up, I decided it was time to use the problem solving skills taught to me by my dad and my brother. When I was young my father and brother were the two primarily responsible for teaching me how to do things independently. My brother taught me how to climb, my dad taught me what was safe for me to climb on. Both were also good at rigging gadgets for me to use. Since I couldn't climb, rigging some sort of gadget to retrieve a cup was the best solution.

  I started looking around the kitchen. In the corner, by the trashcan, there was a long broken broom handle. The broom was aluminum and had rusted until it broke. I carried the handle over to the cupboard and reached up. It was long enough to reach the cups, but the broom handle was too wide to go through the cup handles.

  However, the broom handle was hallow and this gave me an idea. I rummaged through the silverware drawer until I found a large serving fork. I stuck the end of the fork into the aluminum handle. Now I had an odd looking pitchfork. I reached up with my rigged device and slipped it through the handle of the first cup.

  I'd like to brag that my tool was an awesome success, but alas it was not. The fork kept slipping out every time I tried to lift the cup. The cup was too heavy and the rusted end of the broom handle began to crack. Afraid that it would split open and the cup would break, I decided to look for a plan B.

  I began digging through other drawers in the kitchen until I came across a long wooden spoon. I took it out and reached up toward the cupboard with it. The spoon reached the cup handles perfectly! I slid the handle of the spoon through the first cup handle and nervously pulled the cup toward the edge, praying I wouldn't break it. Like a zip-line, I let the cup slide down the long wooden spoon handle, catching it at the end.

  Success!

  I did the same with the second coffee cup and cheered when it too, landed safely in my hands. I made the coffee and took the cups to our room.

  As we watched Netflix and drank our coffee, I recounted my dilemma.

"I totally Macgyvered the thing," I boasted about my weirdly made pitchfork, "but it didn't work so I found a wooden spoon with a long handle - a simple yet effective tool."

"That's what I love about you - you always find a way," my fiancé added, "but you know you can always ask me for help."

"I know, but only if I need it. I like to do as much as I can for myself - and for you," I gestured to his cup of coffee.

"You don't have to make me coffee every morning," he said.

"I never do anything I don't want to do. You know that," I replied.

"True," he smiled and drank his coffee.

"Damn true," I said, grabbing the remote.

"Hey, my turn," my fiancé argued.

"Nope, I'm still drinking coffee and you know the rule--" In a modified quote from one of our favorite shows 'Supernatural,' I said, "Coffee maker picks the show, drinker shuts his cake hole."