My Gramps was an electrician and was always handy around the house. His friends and family always called on him to fix or install something. This was all prior to his stroke and when he was in good health. After the stroke he was in a wheelchair with limited mobility and relied on this cane to transition to the toilet. I have to tell you about his cane because it’s truly unique, and it offers some good insight to my Gramps. My Gramps took an ordinary cane tripod and made it something extraordinary.
My Gramps always had an active mind and was always looking around to find something to get his hands on to do. His mind was always going! One day, he decided he needed a basket for his cane. So, we fastened a basket to the front of the cane, almost like one would secure a basket on the front of a bike. In the basket, he kept a small, square box of tissues – it fit perfectly. He always needed tickets and he tucked them everywhere! Pants pockets, jacket pockets, underneath his pillow, by his favorite chair- quite literally there were tissues all over the house! Mucinex and nose drops helped a lot, but still, the need for tissues and the basket in the cane was useful, but there was more needed…where to put the used tissues?
One day we had some potato salad from the deli and it came in a big plastic container. I washed it out, and Gramps had me fasten a container to the front of the cane, putting a smaller container inside. The outside container became the holder for the “garbage container” in the middle. I must’ve dumped that thing out a hundred times a day! It was perfect for used tissues. Now my Gramps had a super-cane! I was proud of his ingenuity and how these simple things made his world a little easier and made him feel even more self-sufficient.
When my Gramps passed away, I kept the cane. I felt like it represented so much that was good with Gramps, his active mind, ingenuity, and his striving to be self-sufficient, even with his limitations. I kept the cane a long time, than finally decided to take a picture, and donate it, so it could go on to help others. The cane was part of our everyday routines. I have so many memories, putting new tissue boxes in the basket every other day, throwing out the garbage from the lower basket throughout the day, helping Gramps transfer to the toilet and even to his favorite chair for watching t.v. It was important to me, so it was the thing I kept when he passed. Ever notice that the closer you are to the person, the lower the monetary value of the thing you keep in their memory when they pass? I think about the cane when I feel limited and it inspires me to move forward. It is what my Gramps would always do and what he would want for me now.
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