Take Advantage of....Life...

     Thinking about taking advantage of the many features on my new wheelchair leads me to understand take advantage of from an entirely new perspective.
     I am still ambulatory.  In coming days, I will be learning about the features of my new wheelchair.  I forget.  I am still ambulatory.  In coming days, I will need to flesh out what features I do need now, and can use with practice.  I am still ambulatory.  I need to preserve what capacities I do have--my mind, my spirit, and my muscle tone.  I am still ambulatory.
     I do have physical needs that led me to face the prospect of getting a wheelchair.  I am aging. My right ankle is on her last leg.  I am aging.  My left hip is making known the weight she has carried for a lifetime--accommodating to a shorter right leg.  I am aging.  My left hip deserves due respect for her service.
    I am ambulatory, yet I do have physical needs.  I need to take advantage of what features are helpful to me now--the chair itself, which relieves my right ankle of stress she cannot bear.
  Wheelchairs were for old people.  I am still ambulatory.  Wheelchairs are for people whose speech is impaired.
    My right ankle is on her last leg.  I am still ambulatory.  My left hip is weaker because of the undue burden she has shouldered for a lifetime.  She did it without complaint for many years.  Yet, she met her limit.  She needed help.  Take advantage of.  How? An ankle foot orthotic.  Is that enough?  No.  Take advantage of.  What?  What is available?  Take advantage of. A wheelchair.
    Take advantage of.  I am still ambulatory.
    The future?  I may become immobile.  Take advantage of.  What?  The wheelchair's headrim.  I may become immobile.  Take advantage of.  I may become immobile.  The seat elevation feature.
    I am ambulatory.  I am aging.  I have physical needs.
    There is far more of a difference in tense between taken advantage of, and take advantage of.  One thrives on the vulnerability of an individual.  While the other--take advantage of--thrives on making the fullest of the life--the precious gift--one is given.