I did something yesterday I haven’t done in at least 15 years.  I went down to Long Beach and went down the boardwalk. I met a friend who lives right on the ocean front in one of the many beautiful buildings down in Long Beach. She met me on her scooter. Took me to park my car. Put together my scooter and away we went. We went down to from her building to the west ends end of the boardwalk.  Cruised down some streets into a lovely little restaurant for lunch. We went back to the boardwalk stopped in one of the little stores got iced coffee and snacks and cruised home.  It was a gorgeous day. Wasn’t too hot the breeze was beautiful, the company was fabulous and we were able to do it even though we have MS. The scooter or electric wheelchair, whatever you want to call it, gives us independence to do things we normally couldn’t do anymore.  Neither of us could have walked the boardwalk. I don’t even know if I could have made it up the ramp to the boardwalk. We were out for close to 4 hours cruising around.  I fought against almost every assistance device I’ve ever had to get. Meanwhile yesterday I didn’t feel embarrassed for one second of the day. I was filed with so much joy being out there being able to do it.  I must also say kudos to the town of Long Beach because there are bathrooms on the boardwalk.  The scooter can get into the bathroom.  You can get into most of the little stores on the boardwalk with the scooter. The curbs at ever corner were ramped down and up for the scooter so even in the city streets we never had an issue crossing the street and not getting back on the sidewalk. All these things people that don’t have any issues with walking don’t recognize but anyone with disabilities definitely does.  We were able to enjoy a carefree beautiful day and never have that feeling of Uh Oh, how are we going to do this? It was a great day and I thank my friend for getting me out there.