I made eight new friends and they’re power wheelchair users like me. It was a relief to have so many things in common! I have things in common with the kids at school and in my neighborhood, but these new friends are so active in their wheelchairs, just like I am with my iLevel® Power Wheelchair. I’ve started my own iLevel kids crew! How about that?
Our time together started with conversations about the cool things we do in our wheelchairs and ended with exhaustion from playing together and not wanting to leave each other. We took pictures together while elevated at iLevel and went to a restaurant with our families and sat at the higher tables like teenagers do. We spent time racing to see who goes the fastest. Our siblings wanted to join in the fun too! We told them, “now you see how we roll!”
We got ice cream together too! We drove right into the ice cream shop while elevated, and it looked like we owned the place. We were able to see over the counters and got a good look inside the freezer where the ice cream is stored. We took advantage of 12 inches of elevation! We had the ability to see all the flavors and we tried as many as we wanted. After we picked our favorite ice cream and ate until we were full, we headed across the street to the park, so we can ride the dessert off! We were the coolest group of guys leaving the ice cream shop and cruising across the street!
I had so much fun with my new friends that we made a weekend out of it. The next day we went to the movies. With iLevel, we could raise our chairs 12 inches and paid for our own movie tickets independently! We also went to the snack counter and paid for our popcorn and sodas, because what is seeing a movie without popcorn? I like the new soda machines where it allows you to press a button with a wheelchair symbol on it and it navigates to different flavors to choose from. My muscles are really weak so that soda machine was a great invention that was much needed for the disability community. Me and the boys parked our wheelchairs in the back of the theater and stayed elevated at iLevel the whole time during the movie. We had a blast!
The most important thing about meeting new people and making new friends is keeping in touch with each other. We all made a promise to call one another at least once a week and plan for our next big weekend together. I already have suggestions for our next go-round.
About Morgan Steward: Morgan Steward is an honorary police officer for the Covington Georgia Police Department. He lives with his mother, father and two siblings. He is an active member in his community and enjoys helping others. Click here to learn more about Morgan.