I’m going to tell you about leaving home. Oh no! That kind of sounds like I’m going to run away from home, doesn’t it? Well, I’m not. I would never leave my mom!  I’m not talking about leaving in the way of running away. But instead, what I do to help my mom with our front door and a gate by the ramp when we are leaving the house to go someplace. 

The area by our front door on the inside part of the house is a little tight. We have tried a few different ways for me to open the door. Some worked and others not so much. But we finally decided that it would be my mom’s job to open it. My mom can get that door opened fairly easily. So it seemed fair that she could help, too! 

The hard part for my mom is once we get outside and the door needs to be closed. If she were to do the closing there would be lots of maneuvering needed. First, she would have to go partway through the doorway. Then try to grab and hold the handle while she is backing out. And then turn her chair so she can be out of the way while she finishes pulling the door closed. 

Whew! That would be a lot of work for my mom! She would be tired before we ever got started. I just step inside the doorway, grab the tug on the door handle, and pull the door closed. Just like that, it is all done! It is a good thing that I can do this part of the job. And be there to help my mom! 

After we get through the door and get it closed we have a gate to navigate through. This gate is at the top of the ramp that my mom uses to get her wheelchair down to the driveway. We head down this ramp when we are either going to do our dog training practicing on the smooth flat area of the driveway. Or get to the paratransit bus or our van so we can go to appointments or on fun adventures. 

You might wonder why there is a gate at the top of the ramp. It would seem like this would be easier for my mom if there was just the house door for us to get through. Well, I have to say that the gate is very important and very much needed. It keeps me and my sisters safe when my mom or dad let us outside. 

When the front door opens it goes out onto a small deck area. If we turn left, we go to the ramp. But if we go somewhat straight we can go down a few steps where there is a fenced area for us to go potty. My mom can’t go down those steps because her wheelchair would tip over. That sure would be scary, wouldn’t it? But she can sit on the deck and watch us. 

Remember in my posts, Playdates and summertime fun! and My pesky little sister!, how I told you that we had the great big yard we could play in. To get to that area my dad opens up a gate from our smaller pen. We get very excited when he goes toward that gate because we know we will be able to race around and play! 

Oops! I kind of got sidetracked. Does this ever happen to you? I start talking about one thing and before I know it I’m talking about something else!

Now back to the gate. Once we get through the front door we need to get through the gate. My mom unlocks it and pushes it open. We go through and start down the ramp. But we need to stop and get it closed.  It would be unsafe if we left that gate opened. My dad might let my sisters outside and not know that it was open. 

The maneuvering it would take for my mom to close the gate is the same as for the front door. The repositioning, going forward, backing up, and trying to grab the gate while controlling her chair is not so easy for my mom.  But you know what? It is very easy for me. So I tug it closed . . . and off we go!

Here is a short video that my mom made so you can see how I close the front door and the gate.