Basketball game at Our Lady of the Lake...

E had a basketball game yesterday at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic church in Lake Oswego yesterday.

The Garmin got us there a different way that I normally would have gone. I got confused at one point...by around the block..."recalculating"...the Garmin got us right back on track.

For those of you not from the Portland area, Lake Oswego is a small hamlet just south of Portland --- a high class area.

We arrived a few minutes late. We parked in the parking lot in the back of the building. Having not been there before, we didn't know where the gym was. E got out and followed the other kids and parents around as the figured out where to go. The correct door was found and it was up a long flight of stairs.

I can do stairs if I have to, but I avoid them when I can. Going up is not too hard for me, but I don't feel stable coming down. As a kid I dislocated in a knee on stairs are home, a memory always in my mind whenever a set of stairs is in front of me. Jodie can do short sets of stairs, but they need to have backs on them. She uses her forearm crutches, one in front and one behind. These stairs did not have backs.

Jodie told me to go watch the game. I told her I would go scout out the accessibility. As I was heading for the stairs, a couple parents waived at us and said that if we drove to the front of the church, there was a ramp and they could let us in the front door.

I was moved that they were watching out for us. Readers of this blog might think it is a no-brainer that people would watch out for us this way, but if disability has not touched a person's life (personally, or through a friend or relative) , accessibility is not something that enters their stream of consciousness.

Jodie and I made it in and were able see the game. We sat with parents from the opposing team. Bob, a dad of one of our players, cleared us a spot close to the door. It kept Jodie more calm than usual. She really gets into cheering for the kids...kind of wild...loud...uncontrollable.

It was a good, close game. They lost it when they stopped playing as a team. Practices should be interesting this week.